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Ninki Nanka Trail Development
It is hoped that this new Gambian responsible tourism product will help shape the future of rural tourism in The Gambia and contribute to a recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Challenge
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s 2018 Travel & Tourism Economic Impact Report, The Gambia received approximately 163,000 tourists in 2017, and tourism accounted for 20.1% of its GDP and 17.2% of its total employment. While there are clear advantages resulting from this growth, tourism faces a number of challenges which limit the extent to which local people benefit. The Gambia is at the mercy of international tour operators and chartered flights which demand very cheap rates. Furthermore, it faces constraints such as seasonality, low product innovation, lack of skilled staff, low access to finance, sex tourism and high youth unemployment, resulting in a growing number of young people seeking employment opportunities in Europe. More recently, the country has been affected by the impact of Coronavirus on their international tourism markets.
The Approach
Local government and other stakeholders established a responsible approach to tourism development through the implementation of Gambia’s Tourism Development Master Plan, designed to maximise the positive impacts of tourism, while building the capacity and development of community-based cultural and ecotourism, and the hidden gem of the River Gambia. From these aspirations the so-called Ninki Nanka Trail was conceived, intended to develop community-based tourism along the River Gambia and to help spread the economic benefits of tourism beyond the coastal region.
The Impact
Leeds Beckett have worked with a range of partners including local communities, international funders, local partners in The Gambia, such as the Institute of Travel and Tourism of The Gambia (ITTOG), Ninki Nanka Encounters Foundation (NNE), Association of Small-Scale Enterprises in Responsible Tourism (ASSERT) and the Gambia Tourism Board (GTB), RTM Gambian alumni and students studying on the MSc Responsible Tourism Management, to help in the development of this trail.
Work on the Ninki Nanka Trail has won an ATHE Prize for Innovation for building leadership and management capacity in the visitor economy ATHE prizes and awards.
The partnership approach to delivery of the trail and study tours will be presented as a paper at the PRME conference in July 2021.
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