BANTABA:- A fleeting look at tourism development; a key contributor to Gambia’s economy

Infact, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), which has been investing in economic impact research for over 20 years, “in 2012, the total contribution of travel and tourism to employment including jobs indirectly supported by the industry in the country, was 17.7 percent (122, 500 jobs).”

Clearly, that shows the thriving nature of tourism in a country as small as The Gambia, with a population of 1.8 million. However, given the fact that the country tourism is seasonal, it cannot be understated that there is the great need to put heads together in ensuring that these gains are not only sustained, but intensify marketing and explore more attractive product developments. 

Although, the authorities have over the past years been working hard to make the country a first-stop-shop for tourism for it to compete major destinations around the globe, however more need to be done. For instance, the country is not making full opportunity of its beautiful features such as the numerous islands in the hinterland, as well as the admirable River Gambia. Tahe government alone cannot do this, hence the need for the country’s private sector to explore the country and take advantage of these rare opportunities which could yield greater economic score for the country.

It is in this light that I sat down with the director general of The Gambia Tourism Board, Benjamin Roberts to assess the strength and weaknesses of the industry. The one-hour interview centered on virtually everything concerning tourism development in the country from the people involved in it, the restructuring of the GTA to now GTBoard; the preparation for this year’s season; the prospect for the industry and so on.

But to begin with, let’s start with the life and journey of the man at the helm of affairs of The Gambia Tourism Board, Benjamin Roberts, double Masters holder and an experienced entrepreneur.  

Bt: Thanks Benjamin for this opportunity. Can you further share with the wider readership your childhood experiences that contributed in making who you truly are today?  

Benjamin: Thank you very much Hatab and I should also say thank you for granting me this opportunity to hold this interview. I think in terms of background, it’s always a question of how far do you have to go back, I think I have been quite blessed to have grandparents, parents, aunties and uncles that have really helped to shaped me and hence to become the person that I’m today. As the saying goes The Gambia is a developing country and most of us were not born with a silver spoon in our mouth, but the good child upbringing that some of us have been blessed with, is really what has helped to shaped us into the persons that we are  today. In terms of educational background, I was raised by my grandparents and usually they say when grandparents raised a child, they spoil the child, but in my case it was different. People that know me from my childhood would tell you that my grandparents were very tough. 

So I studied at St. Therese’s primary school, and from there, I did my common entrance and proceeded to St. Augustine’s junior in Banjul where I did my O levels. I had a division one score and I proceeded to Gambia High School because as you may know then when you wanted to study science, you have to go Gambia High School. So that’s why I went to Gambia High School and I did my A levels in 1989. Upon completion I had to work in government for about two years before leaving the country in1991 to go to the United States to pursue my degree. I worked with the then Department of Planning under the Ministry of Agriculture and from there my parents wanted me to have a scholarship of course it was difficult in those days to get it to go and further your studies. 

So I opted for my parents to pay for me and my uncle actually did pay for me. I went to the States and worked for a year and after that, I proceeded to do my first degree. I was there for four years; I didn’t have a scholarship that’s why I had to work for a year to raise funds. I remember saving $11, 000 within the span of the first year and I paid for my first full year completely. During the summer holiday, I would come down to Maryland and to Ocean City where I work as much as 18 hours a day just to make sure that during that three months period, I raise enough money to go back to school. But I was quite surprised when I went to pay my second year fees and I was told that I have a $10, 000 scholarship package. I was like how did I get that scholarship and they said well you have the presidential scholarship because you have a GPF of 3.5 and you are a foreign student and we want to encourage foreign students to come and study here. 

So from there it was history and the money I worked so hard to gather was able get me some savings and I became resident assistant within the campus. So I did four years to finish my Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Finance. But prior to leaving, I applied for a scholarship which I was succeeded to do my Masters. But then I thought that I needed to make some money and so I went back to Maryland and I worked again. I graduated in 1996 in May but I worked for two years and in 1999, I decided to go and pursuit my Master’s Degree. I had two options; I always wanted to come back home to The Gambia, I have always known that I was going to come back. I have always growing up with the belief that it is our responsibility to really help to move this country the way it should be and that is to attain economic development. 

So because of that I have never had any intention to live abroad. So I had two options because then in those days if you didn’t graduate from the United Kingdom, your education was seen not to be up to standard and me knowing that I wanted to come back home, I figured that yes I have had a Bachelor’s Degree in the United States but perhaps for me to earn the respect, I needed to go and study in the UK. So the two options were – either to go to the States for my Master’s or to go to the University of Manchester. So I later decided to go to the University of Manchester where I did it from 1999 to 2000. Upon completion of my Master’s in Industrials Strategy on Trade Policy, I went back to the US and I worked for about seven months with the Federal House and  Loan Mortgages Corporation as a specialised business processing analysts. 

But whilst in UK, the Industrial Strategy and Development Policy Programme required that we do a practical and this involved us traveling to Singapore and Malaysia where we spent one week each. Whilst I was in Singapore, we had a symposium amongst the students pursuing their Master’s there and at the end of the programme, one of the professor’s came and asked me if I would want to do or consider studying in Singapore. I was like well if I am given a scholarship I will come. So they asked me to apply. So I went back to the UK and work with the Federal House and Loan Mortgage Corporation and then after a couple of months, I received a letter from Singapore that my application has been successful and that am granted a scholarship to do my PhD. That was a critical moment in my life because I was like acquiring all these degrees but I have not gotten the relevant job experiences and it could actually catch up with me. 

So I decided that I was going to go and left in July of 2001 I to Singapore. What I wanted to do my research in my PhD programme was actually transportation economics and I was looking at shipping in particular because I was thinking of the ports. But unfortunately, they didn’t have a professor with that specialization. What happened towards the tail end was that I had done the course work and everything, but they later told me that for them to do this, I will have to go to another university and have someone supervise me. So I thought of Southampton University in the UK and then I wrote to them after which they accepted me. But I differed that acceptance three times before them finally concluded that I was not ready to continue this. But I ended up of doing the second Master’s and I did a research on China Asian Free Trade Area; which was published in the international trade journal in June 2004. 

Bt: Having said all these, do you consider yourself as a lucky person?

Benjamin: Yes there might be some element of luck but I personally believe that luck is what you the individual create for yourself. I am very grateful to my parents and when I say parents, I mean my grandparents, mums, uncles, aunties because they really contributed all lot to me in terms of helping me to be disciplined; my grandparents raised me and discipline was the word of the day. I think its that discipline that has helped me to reach where I have. But I will also tell you that am a practicing Catholic and my grandparents don’t care whether you want to go to bed at 4am but 7 o’clock they will wake you up for you to go to church at 8 o’clock. 

We are a very religious society but I think sometimes we tend to forget God and I think the man upstairs too has played a role in my life. That of course comes from your commitment to God – you undertaking to do what is right, help other people that you could help. I think we tend to underestimate that but those little things are really what becomes the luck because you give and receives. I’m not trying to say am a perfect individual but at least I endeavor to make sure that I do what is right. Also I go to church every day before I come to work and I think that’s important because you have to start the day by worshipping your God because without Him, there is nothing. So I think maybe those are the little elements that I could say yes those are what make a person lucky.

Bt: How about challenges; sure you most have faced them growing up?

Benjamin: Yes of course there is no doubt about that. I have faced challenges. But the reason why I said I’m very grateful to my parents is, I have had my days and people would tell you, my aunty especially will tell you I was very stubborn. If you grew up in Serekunda right around the market what do you expect? Laughs! But they would tell you that I was very stubborn. I remember one story when my aunty gave me money to go and pay the bill at the then Gambia Utilities Corporation (GUC) at the Serekunda police station where the office used to be. So right around the market they had this table which they would put something and turn around. It’s is like a wheel of fortune. So as I saw people gamble, I said maybe I should try my chance. I can’t remember the amount I was given so I tried and I lost 25 dalasis. I tried again but by the time you know, all the money is gone. 

So but now how do I go back to my parents especially having grandparents who were tough? So I had to stay and loiter around until very late when I decided to and told them this is what happened. So I have had my days but yes it was tough and of course I got punish. So there have been challenges even in school. I remember when I went to St. Augustine’s, it was my uncle who was working at the then Book Production who was paying my school fees. There had been times when I would be sent away from school because my fees had been late coming. It wasn’t until when I was in form three that I received an IOGT scholarship, which from then on paid my fees. When I was in the Sates of as well there were challenges. I work long hours. But it all boils to perseverance and once you could do that, you will overcome things.

Bt: You have been presiding over the restructuring process of The Gambia Tourism Authority now the Gambia Tourism Board as the director general. How daunting has this task been like and what have been your major scores since taking over?

Benjamin: I think the restructuring is still ongoing and perhaps not at the place that we would love to see it. I think the most important thing in terms of the restructuring is that we have a five-year business plan which pretty much identifies what is it that we want to do and where we want where we want to be vis-a-vis the objectives as contained in the Vision 2020 which is really to make the Gambia the Smiling Coast of Africa as one of the key destinations for tourism paradise. And that is to make the tourists arrival to half a million; quality for that matter whereby you will have tourists that come and spend money. It is also our objective to upgrade the tourism facilities, improve on the tourism products as well.

 So in terms of the restructuring proper, I think you would have seen sometimes back in the papers advertisement for certain positions. We are about finalising that and by October, all of those positions would have been filled and then we will begin to implement some of the activities that have in our 2013 work plan. Some of them have already been implemented but there are some that we need to have those people in house for them to take charge in terms certain things like the e-marketing, the social media aspect of the marketing of the Destination Gambia; the compilation of statistics; we actually designed a survey that we will be using over the course of this season to find out from the tourists when they are leaving and when they are coming and what they learned about the Destination Gambia because it’s all about the intelligence. If you have the intelligence then you can actually target and know that this is what I will do vis-à-vis strategy. 

So the restructuring is ongoing but we had some constraints too. But talking about implementing some of the activities; one of the things we want to do is institute a GIS mapping within the Tourism Development Area. GIS mapping is sort of a document where you sort of document all the products within the TDA and know exactly where their geographical locations are. But beyond that also with the development of GIS mapping framework you have the opportunity to develop apps where when tourists come into the destination, they don’t need to find out from anyone, they could just have app on their mobile phone that will tell them key facilities. So this is what we are looking at developing and we have done everything that needs to be done and the proposal is sitting on our table. Now is the money that we need to implement it and is about US$468, 000. We are looking for funds, the GTBoard can pay 50% of that but we are looking for funds to implement that project. 

So in terms of challenges these are some of it. But there are others because tourism is a cross-cutting industry and the GTBoard and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture are responsible, but other tourism stakeholders are very important and so there is the need for collaboration as well. There are things that we want to do which the two of us cannot do; we have to get the support of the Ministry of Lands and Regional Government for example; the Physical Planning, the Survey Department and we even need the support of the Ministry of Interior. So we also work with the Ministry of Interior, we need GCAA, GIA. So is crosscutting and without the support of those people to really buy into your agenda, it’s going to be very difficult for you to implement. So because of that we have to work together, but I think in terms of the restructuring so far so good I will want to see things achieved much more smoothly. 

Bt: How about the some achievements?

Benjamin: We have registered a lot of achievements. Let me start with the security because we have these challenges with the bumbsters. So one of the things we said we needed to do was build tourism security guard posts. If you go around the TDA, Duplex, Mansi Beach, Palma Rima Beach, Cape Point and to Kololi Beach Club, you would see that even Banjul there are two that have been constructed where security personnel will be stationed to ensure that they control who is coming in or out of the area. We are also working on putting in place a product in Ndebane because I personally belief that everybody has to benefit from tourism and we are looking at trying to see how communities in the hinterland also benefit. 

So we are working on a pilot project where tourists come we take them to those places like Ndebane. But for that to happen, what we are doing is building huts within those villages were tourists can spend the night, wake up in the morning and observe the culture. So that is a pilot project that we are working on and depending on its success we will replicate it in other areas as well. In terms of marketing, since we came on board last year, we have signed AVRS, which is a Public Relations and marketing based in Germany. The intention is for them to represent The Gambia Tourism Board in Germany, promoting tourism in Germany, Slovakia and Poland. 

We also recently sound CWW (Connect Worldwide) and the objective is for them to represent us in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. If you look at the history of tourism in The Gambia, it was started by the Swedish. But if you look at the arrivals from that today, it has gone down. So we need to revive that market and that was the reason we have signed CWW to represent us. We have attracted new airlines flying into the destination; chartered airlines that were not here. If you look at the likes of Condor, which started coming to the Gambia they subsequently stopped two years ago, this year they will be flying from Frankfurt direct to The Gambia without going to Cape Verde as it used to. That means is more arrival, But of course there are airlines that started flying from Spain to the Gambia; we have Air-Europa; we have Rainbow Tours who will be flying to the destination for the first time beginning this November from Poland. 

So there has been lots of achievements. So as it we are also working on signing a new PR Marketing Firm – Baltus Communications based in Holland because Holland is another important tourist market for The Gambia. So we are doing all of these things to expand our reach, but beyond that, we have a strategy meeting in Nigeria – myself, the minister and the director of Tourism International based in UK. We are looking at how we could actually have PR and Marketing Firm presence in Nigeria and also to open an office there as we have in the UK, because the Nigerian market is also very important. 

So there are a lot of achievements. The other thing is the service aspect of what we have. So we engaged Pum Company, a firm based in the Netherlands where retired people in the industry in Europe give their services for free. So we signed a five-year contract with them to have  the train the trainer sort of scheme; they have held one training and they should holding another one next month in The Gambia for the stakeholders and also sometimes for the GTBoard.

I think this is very important time for us to expand our reach given what is happening elsewhere – the Arab Spring. So I think this is the time to take advantage and ensure that the people that used to go their come and hopefully when they come here they will like what they see. The Gambia is not yet very known so it is this PR that we do that will help for people to know the existence of this destination of tourism. In that regards in terms of some of our achievements, one thing that we have not done well in the past was to have this collaborative thing among the tourism stakeholders. Yes we are the Authority, but we alone cannot do it. So I think there are a lot of collaboration now than what was used to obtained in the past and I think that is very important for our success.

Bt: Given the wealth of your experience having to served in different capacities at different top notch institutions, what can the GTBoad benefit from that knowledge?

Benjamin: Well they say if you gather all the knowledge and experiences and education in the world, it’s useless if you don’t share with the people and help to either bring them up or to make things happen and improve on things. For me I think I have an opportunity in the sense that with this capacity I think have the chance to make a difference. Actually I wrote a book titled “Pride of a Nation” to overcoming the challenges of economic dependence, poverty, financial dependence. 

In that book I could tell you that maybe one-sixth of the literature is dedicated to tourism, criticising and scrutinising tourism and what we need to do. That was one of the reasons why when I got this opportunity I thought okay is one thing to sit and write, it’s easy to write and criticise and say this and say that. But then since I wrote that book, I now have this opportunity perhaps to try and improve things. That is one of the reasons I decided to take on this challenge. I have been blessed to have this opportunity the opportunities I have had and I think I need to share it. 

Bt: Last tourism season appeared to be successful given the number of new flights that operated to and from in Banjul. What is the success story of the last season?

Benjamin: The success story is pretty much the number of arrivals that we had and from the last number that I looked at, we had about 175, 000 not counting the green season. Looking at the green season we had about 6, 000 from the last update I got from the marketing. So pretty much we measure the success of the season by the number of arrivals that we have. But that is the broad measure and of course the number of arrivals will be determined by what you have done to ensure those arrivals come. 

But I think another parameter that perhaps we need to be spending attention on is what is the average spending of those people that are coming here. I think that is very important; getting that statistics is currently a challenge because you need to work with the hoteliers; restaurants and so on in order to have an idea or perhaps you do an exclusive interview as we do on parameters when tourists leave. But I overall the success story has been the numbers of arrivals. But beyond that for you to achieve success, a lot happen in the background and I want to also say that the level of collaboration and support of the various tourism stakeholders contributes to that. 

So yes I think its successful but let me also say that we as The Gambia Tourism Board and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture believe that the true definition of our success would only happen when we change what obtain during the summer. We are not sort of underscoring the importance of what we have done to get the increased in arrival number during the winter. That is fine, but what we are saying is that we need to ensure that during the summer, businesses don’t stay for 5-6 months without tourism business and until we are able to change that either by elongating the season from November to May to now be October to July-August; then we well be successful because. I think its a major challenge because during the off season, employees are laid off; farmers that sell vegetables and others are not able to sell it again. 

So we need to change that as well because it has an impact on the economy. That is where our focus is now and we hope that in the next two-three seasons, The Gambia will begin to see some changes in that light. You also questioned in terms of some of the successes that we have registered. The season had always started in November, but this year for the first time, it will start in October and is going to end in May. The reason being is that Thomas-Cook is going to start in October and they are going to end in April and you know Thomas-Cook does four flights per week. So this is one of the things we also managed to broker during the current season. So we are elongating the season by two months.

Bt: How prepared is the GTBoard towards making this season even more successful compared to the previous ones?

Benjamin: We are very prepared – at the end of the season we had two multi-stakeholders meeting in which we brought everyone from the craft vendors, taxi drivers and so on. We do this before and after the season. The reason being is that we want people to know that we are partners; we have to come together and work because that’s the only way we can succeed. We cannot be successful by sitting in our cubbyholes and think that things will happen; we have to be on the ground. We are very prepared; I will tell you the truth. As I indicated we got all these tourism security guard posts ready we should be inaugurating them very soon before the season begins. 

We are also renewing all our tenancy agreements with the craft markets because those tenancy agreement that exists used to be under the GTA; we are also working with the National Roads Authority (NRA) to clean the Tourism Development Area – from Traffic Light to Kartong – of all these have-hazard billboards; we are also looking at buying beach cleaning machines to clean the beaches because sometime you go on the beach and you see how dirty it is. So we are currently working on the procurement. So these are all things we are doing to improve things vis-à-vis the industry. As we speak, our classification document in terms of the hotels – we didn’t have the service standards incorporated in them – that is now being developed and we should be calling a stakeholders’ meeting for them to review and give us their input for us to incorporate that as well. So there are a lot of things happening in the background.

Bt: Benjamin lets come to critical issues within the industry; the occasional reports of child sex tourism apparently by some tourists who exploit some young Gambian kids within the industry. Has this come to the notice of the GTBoard? If yes, what are the things that you are doing to tackle this issue?

Benjamin: This has come to the attention of the GTBoard and I think for a start, this is something that we do not take lightly. We work with the Child Protect Alliance (CPA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Department of Social Welfare in tackling this menace. We had series of meetings – I remember my first or second meeting when I joined the GTBoard in May of 2012, it was actually on this particular topic at the Laico Atlantic Hotel in Banjul. 

As we speak, in the next couple of weeks, there will be a country wide distribution of the Tourism Code of Conduct to all schools throughout the country. We have worked with UNICEF to actually develop a child code of conduct on tourism and we thought we should share this with all the primary schools throughout the country to raise awareness and sensitise people on this issue. I think we have printed about 125, 000 of those leaflets. We are also distributing this to all the hotels so that all of them can have this and share with the guests when they come.

One of the things that we are working on, which I have hopes that we may be able to implement before November, is to have an electronic billboard signage at the airport with some messages to just give the stance of the country vis-à-vis the abuse of children. It will some light messages so that when people see they will know that this country is really paying attention to this. I have requested for a meeting with the country director of UNICEF for us to sit on this and agree as to when we should have that. The other thing that I want to have their support on is for us to have a three to five minutes video that will be played in all chattered flights by the time it remains 10 to 15 minutes before it lands to show The Gambia’s position on this. 

So these are all things that we are working on. I’m very particular because for me children are the future of this country and when you do certain things to them, not only do you tamper with their confidence, but demoralising them. So child abuse is something that should not be taken lightly. Of course the Child Offenses Act I believe it should be at Cabinet at some point for endorsement for implementation. The intention of that Act is to fast-track the court processes. If an offender is caught, for example, you are a tourists and found wanting, this should be addressed within 24 hours.

Bt: Another menace in the industry is the issue of bumbster. Have you made any gains in terms of tackling this?

Benjamin: I think the menace is a challenge that has baffled us and it is something that will continue to do so. I think at some point we have to be realistic. There are two issues; the first issue is that you can have a symptom of something and you can have a root cause of something. I think the bumbster issue is a symptom of perhaps what some of them would say “we don’t have opportunity to do something better, if we had opportunity to do something better, then we would not be engaging in bumbstering of bumbsing” as some of them would call it. 

Now how do you address a symptom – addressing the issue is perhaps creating that opportunity to prevent them from undertaking these activities. For some of them they hide behind the lack of the opportunity, but there are people who do not have opportunities but yet they are not bumbsters, but trying to do things with their lives by going through hard undertaking processes for alternatives. I remember in one of our multi-stakeholders meeting, the issue was discussed and the proprietress of Poco-Loco said this problem is not only peculiar to The Gambia; you go to Senegal is even worse; you go to Tunisia, Zanzibar you hear about it. So we want to put a positive spin to this. 

One of the things we are currently doing to implement in October, we developed a guide to educate tourists because you cannot get the bumbsters out of the beach. We tried everything – putting Tourism Security Unit but yet is difficult to contain. So we are now saying why not we put a positive spin to this and have some sort of engagement with the bumbsters. For me I believe in engagement because we are all human beings and we have to survive. For many of them, this is what they believe is the way out to them, especially in going to Europe and improve their lives. And there have been people who have gone and indeed improved their lives. 

We have to be realistic! So we would engage them in a very constructive manner and tell them that there are certain times they are allowed to beach and there are certain times they are not allowed to the beach. If you make an approach and the tourist say not interested, please leave them alone. We will continue to do other enforcements like ensuring that during a particular period in time, I think is from 8 or 9am to 5pm, the tourists supposed to be on the beach and after that time, Gambians go to jog can go. But during that time the police cannot cover every point and so you are bound to have people escape and be on the beach.

 But at least if a tourist say am not interested, please leave them alone. The other thing is to educate tourists because The Gambia is a peaceful country and the bumbsters are not harmful. Since my days here I have not recollected anywhere where a bumbster has done something horrendous. So we want to educate the tourists by a way of that guide to say if somebody made an approach to you, just withstand and tell them sorry, don’t approach me and if you continue I know where to go to report. But perhaps in the long term we as a Board is to start thinking what do we do to eventually try and improve the industry; increase the number of tourists arrivals; to ensure that people who come here are spending money. 

This is because the more arrivals you have, the more investments you would have, the more hotels and other tourism facilities you would have, the more employment that would be generated, could actually even employ some of these people on the beach. So I think that is the long time solution, but in the interim, I think is engagement, awareness creation for the tourists, engagement with the bumbsters and so on. We will continue to do what will deter the bumbsters and that is why we developed all these tourism TSU guard posts to ensure that at least the security guard could be there.

Bt: The Gambia is known as a good tourism destination in the sub-region, but as you rightly stated more work is left undone in terms of improving this very important industry. But what I have observed is that we are not making very much use of our endowed natural resources for the purpose of tourism attractions. For instance, the country has numerous islands – 200 – if what I have is anything to go by and other features that the country is blessed with. Have you centered your marketing strategies around this to making sure that you develop something like river transport system whereby tourists can travel all the way to Basse because the River Gambia is very navigable?

Benjamin: Hatab I cannot agree with you more! For me I try to be very practical and I think the idea is that tourism should benefit everybody, especially those people that are in the hinterland. What we believe here at the Gambia Tourism Board, especially the product development director and I, am very confident and I strongly believe that we have not done much in terms of the river; we have not exploited the tourism opportunities along the river. We need to be conscious of the realities and the trends that are unfolding. 

The focus of tourism in The Gambia has been leisure on the Atlantic Coast and not the entire coast because the coast also involves Barra; but nothing is being done in that area. And even in the coast on the south bank, you will realise that there is saturation and because of the density, what is happening is that it is creating challenges of erosion. And if you look at what is happening on the beach, we are gradually losing the size of our beach in certain areas. 

Now what that tells is for us as a country (it goes beyond the GTBoard) is to look at diversifying and the only other opportunity that we have is actually on the river. For example, take a look at Makasutu, and here we are talking of eco-tourism, and we talk of wanting tourists to come here and spend more. But that average spends you are not going to get on the coast because what is on the coast is mass market. 

Now if we are to get the average spend, we need to look at eco-tourism and the river is the perfect answer to eco-tourism. If you look at the likes of Makasutu, the average spend at Makasutu competes the average spend or even better of the 5 star hotels. If you look at Sitanunku (unfortunate it is in a legal entanglement at the moment), the average spend there competes with four and sometimes five star hotels. So we need to find and tailor investment. But unfortunately, The Gambia Tourism Board cannot undertake investments because if we do that then we would be deviating from our core activity. So that was one of the reasons why in May of last year. 

we signed an MoU with GIEPA. We want to work with GIEPA to promote investment opportunities into tourism, but focusing on opportunities in the river because there is a lot that could be done in the river. You mentioned the cruise on the river, what is stopping investment coming and having an excursion from Banjul all the way to Basse, have lunch at different stops then come back. I will give you an example of Lamin Lodge; when people go to Lamin Lodge, the amount of money that they spend there, they would not even sometimes spend in a hotel. Why, because why its unique, you are within a greenly environment you have monkeys jumping around everywhere, you could do bird watching, you could deep for a swim; all within the same locality. So Gambians need to be conscientious of these opportunities.

Bt: What is stopping the private sector in the Gambia from taking this kind of challenge since GTBoard cannot actually do the investment. But I believe there are companies in the Gambia that can take the risk and invest in these areas we mentioned?

Benjamin: Yes that’s what we are doing. The reason why we signed the MoU with The Gambia Investment Export Promotion Agency is to help showcase these opportunities. We are working on organising an investment forum by November or sometime in December. What we want to do is to showcase these opportunities, invite local and foreign investors to tell them these are the opportunities that exist. I went on a country tour looking at what exist in the up country tourism and am telling you Hatab, n certain parts of the Gambia like Bansang, it’s a little bit hilly and there is another area too that I had gone and when you stand there and look down to see the river, you could just begin to contemplate what opportunities exist there. 

These are the sort of things that we want to document and showcase to the investors. So from the marketing perspective this is actually more of a product development than marketing because product developments are the ones that need to identify these opportunities and bring them out to document them and put them in the sort of an investment opportunity for it to be sold.

Bt: I don’t want to take much of your time, today is Friday and I think it has been a very interesting interview. But my last question would be whether you see yourself as a very difficult person to reach? 

Benjamin: Laughs! The question of whether I’m a happy father; I’m still single Hatab; I’m not yet married but am looking at closing that chapter in my life. I’m I seeing someone, yes I’m seeing someone and I’m hoping that pretty soon that chapter would be closed in my life.

Bt: Honestly I’m dumped founded with that assertion. But if I may ask what could be the problem because you have the relevant education, I believe you have jumped the poverty line? What kept you still in the bachelor division?

Benjamin: Laughs! The things is that I’m a conservative and I told you earlier in the interview that I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in mouth, I just want to do things right and I want to ensure that by the time I undertake this lifestyle of marriage, I ensure that certain basic things are in place. My plan was I would not get marry until I finish my education and that has since happened a long time ago. I completed my education when I was 33, that’s when I got my second Masters. Now I am 44 years – 11 years late. But its one thing wanting to get married, but its another thing to find someone that you think will be a good partner. Laughs! Laughs! Laughs! But I think I’m almost there.

Bt: I honestly think you are scared because if you never try, you won’t know that?

Benjamin: Big Laughs! No it has nothing to do with that. I think my parents prepared me well for me to be able to handle that aspect of my life. I’m I a difficult person, I don’t think so. I think I’m a person that believes in excellence; that values standards and I’m a person that thinks that for anybody to achieve anything in this world you need to be focused; committed and hold yourself against the highest standards. Sometimes that doesn’t come too well to the people because they think that you are too demanding, but the reality is that for us to move as a country, I think we need to set ourselves higher standards and that is what is going to take this country forward. If you have the chance to visit countries like Taiwan, Singapore, Hong-Kong, Malaysia and you see the level of discipline, the work ethics and the standards, then you begin to appreciate that achieving development is not an easy task.

Bt: Benjamin thank you very much for shelving other equally important matters to speak to the Bantaba.

Benjamin Roberts: Thank you Hatab I really appreciate it.