http://www.africandiasporatourism.com/ 

Most baby boomers remember LeVar Burton for his dramatic portrayal of Kunte Kinte in the award-winning television mini-series, Roots, which was based on the novel by Alex Haley. The younger generations know him from watching ‘Reading Rainbow,’ a PBS children television show that he once hosted. Today, the internationally acclaimed actor and show host is also a renown speaker, expert panelist and documentary host. Burton is set to be a keynote presenter at the upcoming Global Tourism, Progress and Peace Conference to take place on March 24-26, 2011 in Jordan. Burton, also a producer and director, is the host of the new documentary “The Science of Peace.” At the conference, he will discuss the documentary and conference attendees will get to preview the groundbreaking film. The Science of Peace documentary investigates the cause of violence and explores potential pathways to peace. The Global Tourism, Progress and Peace conference will be held at the Dead Sea Spa Hotel, just 50 minutes from Amman, Jordan’s capital.

Burton, said that he is honored to have the opportunity to present a preview of ‘The Science of Peace’ to a distinguished audience of global visionaries and thought leaders from academic institutions, public and private sector organizations and the media. “Tourism is a platform for people from different locations and viewpoints to meet; a platform for creating awareness, respect and understanding. It is truly a platform for peace and an important element that we wish to integrate into our documentary,” he said.

Burton rose to fame in the late 70’s when he was only 19 years old for his portrayal in Roots as a young African tribesman captured and sold into slavery in America, a role for which he received rave reviews. Ten years later, Burton landed his second signature role as Geordi La Forge, the blind star ship engineer in the syndicated science fiction TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. For over 20 years, he served as host of the PBS children’s program Reading Rainbow, a show that he also produced. Burton worked as a director for many years for several movies and many television series including Star Trek: Voyager, Jag, Las Vegas and Miracle Boys.

Burton brings a unique voice and perspective to the conference as well as the Science of Peace Documentary with his wide range of experience and keen interest in transformation and helping to promote world peace. His star power and dedication to world peace makes him an asset to the conference. His style of storytelling allows audience to identify with what the Science of Peace film seeks to portray as he inspires a desire for participation in bringing about world peace. The documentary features pioneering physicists, biologist, philosophers and other experts who are established in the emerging field of peace as a science.  

An eloquent speaker, literacy advocate and published author, Burton is eager to share his views on the effects of media on children, literacy and pathways to peace.  He has won ten Emmy Awards, five NAACP Awards, and multiple nominations and awards for his work.  It was the Roots experience that awakened Burton to the powerful potential of the television and media to inspire, enlighten and educate. Today, he is a distinguished panelist and sought after public speaker. Burton was once appointed by President Clinton to the National Commission on Library and Information Services (NCLIS), a panel of experts who advise the President on policy for the storage, retrieval and dissemination of information in America.

Organizers of the conference are Sandy Dhuyvetter, Executive Producer of TravelTalkMEDIA and  Dr. Omar Moufakkir, founder of the International Centre for Peace through Tourism Research.  “We are extremely pleased to have Mr. Burton join our panel of globally recognized scholars and tourism industry experts,” said conference co-chairperson Dhuyvetter. “His stature as an entertainment industry icon and his ongoing commitment to the development of a more peaceful world will greatly enhance the quality of the event and its ability to attract influential participants from many countries and disciplines.”

The aim of the conference is to stimulate innovative thinking and applied research in the area of tourism and peace with the goal of optimizing the benefits of tourism and minimizing the costs – social, environmental, cultural or economic – for the benefit of all. Experts and scholars from different aassociations, research centers, universities, international organizations and other institutions from all over the world will participate in the conference. Local and international media and high-ranking decision-makers in political, economic and cultural spheres are also expected to attend the conference to help disseminate and promote the exchange of ideas beyond academic research.

The conference will be held in the Dead Sea region, the world’s lowest point on earth, 400 meters below sea level, one of the most spectacular and breathtaking landscapes in the world. Sparsely populated and serene, the area is surrounded by mountains to the east and rolling hills of Jerusalem to the west giving the Dead Sea its unique beauty.  The Dead Sea Spa Hotel is a health and well being destination situated along the sea shore with access to the largest private beach in the Jordan Valley, and sprawling grounds with ample areas to relax and rejuvenate.

For more information about Tourism Progress and Peace, the Conference, visit www.TourismProgressAndPeace.com. To learn more about the documentary that Burton is hosting, visit www.ScienceofPeace.com.  

About TravelTalkMEDIA

TravelTalkMEDIA brings visibility and focus on diplomacy, cultural exchange and economic sustainability through tourism. From studios based in San Francisco Bay Area and from remote destinations around the world, Sandy Dhuyvetter and the TravelTalkMEDIA team produce award winning radio programs, television programming and newsletters each week featuring informative travel news and relevant interviews with leading experts in the travel and tourism industries.

Audio and video segments are broadcast on conventional radio and TV stations in the US and around the world. A leader in the use of new media and social media since its inception in 2001, Archives of all recent broadcasts of TravelTalkRADIO and BusinessTravelRADIO are available at www.TravelTalkMEDIA.com

About International Centre for Peace through Tourism Research

The mission of the center is to work toward building bridges out of the walls: cultural differences, religion, traditions and lifestyles that, sometimes, keep us apart. The ICPTR’s objective is to conduct academic research to contribute to the development of tourism as an agent of peace. It is the first center to have peace and tourism as a focus of inquiry. The objective is to conduct scientific research projects to empirically assess the myths and  realities associated with peace through tourism; encourage debate about the place of tourism within peace and conflict studies; and participate in national and international networks that work on issues related to conflict management. For more information visit www.icptr.com.

 www.stenden.com

Tourism, Progress and Peace

The book Tourism, Progress and Peace was develped as an initiative to contribute to the tourism and peace propostion, enhance peace and tourism research, and promote peace through tourism in general. The first objective is to use the book in the classroom. For this, an instructor’s guide has been developed by the Internationel Center for Peace through Tourism Research under the leadership of Ian Kelly and Omar Moufakkir. This guide has been develpped to assist the instructors who will be using the Tourism, Progress and Peace book in class. It includes cases based on the book chapters. It offers background information, discussion questions, and a method to use the book. It is offered free of charge to all instructors using the book. Instructors willing to use the book in the classroom are invited to send a request to Ian Kelly iankelly34@bigpond.com to receive the Instructo’s Guide.

We hope that the guide will be a useful material that supplements the content of the Tourism, Progress and Peace contents. In its digital format, the guide should always be considered a work in progress. That is, we invite users to send us additional relevant material, case studies and other sources to make the guide a stronger and updated tool. If you are using the guide, we would like to hear from you. The guide has been developed in collaboration with all the authors who have contributed chapters to the book. We hope that you will find the initiative useful.

Stenden University is offering three MA programs. For more information visit www.stenden.com

A Master degree is a postgraduate academic degree, which is awarded after the completion of at least one year of prescribed study beyond the Bachelor’s degree.
A Master degree provides you with a higher qualification for employment. It also prepares you for a doctoral study. Double Degree program. Stenden university offers double degree Master programs: a Dutch Master degree and a British Master of Arts degree in cooperation with the London Metropolitan University.

In depth knowledge

These programs provide you with in-depth knowledge to enhance your career perspectives in the Netherlands and the rest of the world. The service sector, for which we offer Master programs, is still growing, and has become one of the most important sectors of the economy. These developments require specialists, who are able to meet the challenges service industries face.

Specialization within master program

The Master programs have a common core segment, which is obligatory for all students, and it also offers specialized segments for different fields of services, such as hospitality, retailing, leisure & tourism, and service management (the last one being a specialization with a broad, general character).

http://www.stenden.com/nl/studies/master/international-leisure-tourism-studies/Documents/Studyprogramme_Master_in_International_Leisure_and_Tourism_Studies.pdf

To listen, visit: http://keeptonyblairforpm.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/tony-blairs-blue-sky-thinking-tourism-for-peace-in-the-holy-land/comment-page-1/#comment-57770 .

At the International Center for Peace through Tourism we are very happy to know that Tourism and Peace in the Holy Land has got the ears and mouths of calibre policians like Tony Blair. The speech by Mr. Blair supports the chapter that we have written in the Tourism, Progress and Peace book. Please see chapter 11 by Omar Moufakkir: Re-evaluating Political Tourism in the Holy Land: A Conceptualisation of Peace Tourism”. Both the chapter and the speech are PRAGMATIC.

About the chapter: Dr. Moufakkir discusses political consumerism as a strategy employed to supportor denounce a political, social, or environmental action, whith an emphasis on the concepts of tourism boycotting and buycotting of the Holy Land. He then offers a re-evaluation of political tourism in the Israeli-Palestinian context with attention to the conceptualization of peace tourism as an antithesis of politically oriented tourism and denounces solidarity tourism as a form of tourism that perpetuates stereotypes and extends social, political and cultural gaps between belligerent groups, thereby contributing to conflict reinforcement rather than resolution. Subsequently, the author reviews the initiatives of the Tourism4Peace Forum as an example of best practice in peace through tourism and hospitality, reflecting the very essence of peace through tourism concept and initiative.

(for more information send an e-mail to omar.moufakkir@stenden.com, call us at (00)31582441301. The article and other interesting chapters feature in the book Tourism, Progress and Peace.

 CAB Publishing

(Apologies for relocating the venue)

International conference in Jordan will focus on Travel Industry’s Impact on
Diplomacy, Cultural Understanding,  and Prosperity 
JORDAN
March 24-26, 2011

September 29, 2010 — San Francisco, CA – Jordan is the venue for the Tourism, Progress and Peace conference set for March 24-26, 2011 at the Dead Sea Spa Hotel. The announcement was made by the co-organizers of the event, TravelTalkMEDIA^TM founder, Sandy Dhuyvetter and International Centre for Peace Through Tourism Research founder, Dr. Omar Moufakkir.

”The realities of the 21st Century, including globalization, the EU enlargement, immigration, terrorism, home-grown terror, made and natural catastrophes, extremism, wars and conflicts, stereotypes, perceptions, greed and rising poverty, necessitate a closer look at the role of tourism in contributing to a more peaceful world,” states Dr. Omar Moufakkir.

The newly released book: Tourism Progress and Peace, edited by Dr.Moufakkir, examines the relationship between tourism and peace. Professors, governmental officials and travel experts from around the world examined the relationship between tourism and peace and advanced strategies related to specific issues and contexts.

“The extraordinary response to the book made it important to create a venue where educators, practitioners, policymakers and business leaders could come together to exchange ideas, present works, and collaborate on projects to contribute to the global awareness of peace through tourism,” said Sandy Dhuyvetter.

Call for Abstracts has begun and early Registration begins Oct 1^st..  Abstracts are being accepted  from every sector of tourism.”

Information concerning Abstract submission can be found at: http://www.tourismprogressandpeace.com/callforabstracts.html

For more information about Tourism Progress and Peace, the Conference, go to: www.TourismProgressAndPeace.com

About The Venue: Dead Sea Spa Hotel
The hotel is ideally located at about 408 meters under the sea level. It’s one-hour drive from International airport and 45 minutes from the Capital (Amman).The resort village is designed as a wide and open area with a free view of the sea and an impressive surrounding.  http://www.TourismProgressAndPeace.com/venue

About TravelTalkMEDIA
TravelTalkMEDIA brings visibility and focus on diplomacy, cultural exchange and economic sustainability through tourism. From studios based in San Francisco Bay Area and from remote destinations around the world, Sandy Dhuyvetter and the TravelTalkMEDIA team produce award winning radio programs, TV programming and newsletters each week featuring informative travel news and relevant interviews with the leading experts in the travel and tourism industries. Audio and video segments are broadcast on conventional radio and TV stations in the US and around the world. A leader in the use of new media and social media since its inception in 2001, Archives of all recent broadcasts of TravelTalkRADIO and BusinessTravelRADIO are available at www.TravelTalkMEDIA.com

About International Centre for Peace Through Tourism Research
The mission of the center is to work towards building bridges out of the walls (cultural differences, religion, traditions and lifestyles..) that, sometimes, keep us apart. The ICPTR’s objective is to conduct academic research to contribute to the development of tourism as an agent of peace. It is the first center to have peace and tourism as a focus of inquiry. The objective is to conduct scientific research projects to empirically assess the myths and realities associated with peace through tourism, encourage debate about  the place of tourism within peace and conflict studies, and participate in national and international networks that work on issues related to conflict management. http://www.icptr.com/

For more information on Tourism Progress and Peace, the Conference,
in regards to participation and sponsorship please email conference@tTourismProgressAndPeace.com

Introduction
In an exploratory study by Var and Ap (1998) about the relationship between tourism and peace, the peace variable was associated with a high degree of uncertainty, with one third of respondents providing a neutral response to the statement “I believe that tourism promotes world peace”. The authors proposed that this uncertainty might have arisen from a definitional problem with the term ‘peace’. They explained that many respondents may have associated peace with an ‘absence of war’ and that the concept that would be most appropriate in the context of tourism and peace is that of ‘harmony and harmonious relations’. Therefore, a constructive discussion of peace and tourism demands no less than a definition that is less parsimonious than the ‘absence of war’…. Click  Tourism and Peace Conference to read more.

The Host Gaze

We are pleased to announce a Call for Chapter Proposals for the book which will present new and emerging directions in research in the area of host gaze. Theoretical and practical research contributions are welcomed. 

Omar Moufakkir, Stenden University and Yvette Reisinger, Temple University

We invite submission that will cover many aspects of the host gaze:  How is the host gaze constructed and reinforced? How has it changed and developed? How does the host gaze vary? What are its consequences for the tourists who are its object?  What are the aspects of the host gaze which distinguish it from the tourist gaze and from conventionally gaze encountered in everyday life? What determines the host gaze? Are there any pre-existing cultural images of the host gaze? How do hosts gaze upon or view different tourists? How different nations construct their host gazes? What are the differences in the host gaze across regions and nations? Which host gazes are the most/least authentic? What are the socio-cultural and economic aspects of the host gazes? What are the elements of the host gaze in the changing global economy of the tourism industry? How do the tourism development and its particular industries/sectors influence the host gaze?

Since international tourism requires diverse cultures to understand and appreciate each other the proposed book aims at offering a deeper understanding of the host gaze in building an image of tourists, promoting cultural relations, international cooperation and economic sustainability. Especially, the book aims at contributing to understanding cultural differences across nations and the impact of tourist behavior on the host gaze and the host behavior on developing an image of a tourist.

The editors of the proposed book welcome chapter proposals that focus on Western and non-Western host gazes (Western host gaze upon Western tourists, Western host gaze upon non-Western tourists, non-Western host gaze upon Western tourists, and non-Western host gaze upon non-Western tourists).

Expressions of interests and abstracts of up to 500 words should be sent to Omar Moufakkir (omar.moufakkir@stenden.com) and Yvette Reisinger (reisingy@temple.edu). All submissions will be reviewed and should include author(s) names, affiliations and contact details.

 …………………………………………..

“The second gaze is always aware that something is being concealed from it; that there is something missing from every picture, from every look or glance. This is no less true on tour than it is in everyday life. The second gaze knows that seeing is not believing. Some things will remain hidden from it. Even things with which it is intimately familiar (…) It looks for openings and gaps in the cultural unconscious. It looks for the unexpected, not the extraordinary, objects and events that may open a window in structure, a chance to glimpse the real” (MacCannell, 2001, p. 36).

 What helps in constructing and developing our gaze as hosts? How is the host gaze constructed and reinforced? What are the consequences of this gaze for the places which are its object and tourists who are its subject? These and questions similar to those concerning the tourist gaze (Urry, 2002) can help us to move on from the ‘conventional gaze’ (MacCannell, 2001) or the obvious in host-guest encounters and resident attitude surveys towards a more critical analysis (Tribe, 2008) and a deconstruction of the gaze in tourism.

We gaze at what we encounter, and this gaze is socially organized and systematized as is the gaze of the medic. An analysis similar to that of the tourist gaze, whether from Urry’s or MacCannell’s perspective, can be applied to the host gaze. The concept of the gaze can help us to grasp tiny anomalies, and gaze upon the gazes of the host. The gaze involves looking at the encounter with interest and curiosity. There is the gaze of the gazer and the gaze of the gazee or the object of the initial gaze.

Both gazes are subject to change with changing economic, demographic, social, cultural and other societal phenomena (Urry, 2002; MacCannell, 2001). As the tourist gaze is dynamic, the host gaze is also changing, depending on who is the tourist and who is the host. Just as there is no single tourist gaze, the host gaze must also vary by society, social group, and historical period. Host gazes are constructed through cultural similarities and dissimilarities. Surely, there must be different gazes from the same gazer upon different gazees. For example, while the Dutch host may find German tourists irritating, the French may find them friendly, and while the German host may find the Dutch tourist friendly, they may find the French tourists irritating.

How does cultural distance (CD) moderate the host gaze – low CD host gaze upon low CD tourists, low CD host gaze upon high CD tourists, high CD host gaze upon high CD tourists, and high CD host gaze upon low CD tourists? Cultural distance, stereotypes, communication, and history, among other factors, are likely to contribute to the construction of particular gazes. The tourist gaze “is constructed and sustained through a variety of non-tourist practices, such as film, TV, literature, magazines, record and videos, which construct and reinforce the gaze” (Urry, 2002, p. 3). The host gaze is also constructed through similar media, and is objectified through perceptions, stereotypes and cultural distance. The collection of information (or misinformation) enables the gaze to be captured and reproduced.

 “(T)o consider how social groups construct their gaze is a sound way of getting at just what is happening in the ‘normal society’” (Urry, 2002, p. 2). The notion of Urry’s tourist gaze is not substantially different from that of MacCannell’s (2001) “second tourist gaze”, but MacCannell goes a little deeper, beyond the notion of the “what you see is what you get” (p. 35). This type of gaze, he explains, is set to fulfil tourists’ narcissistic desires or what is referred to as the dream of the postcard. The second gaze runs deeper in deconstructing the invisible. MacCannell adds to this notion of the gaze (the medic’s gaze) Foucault’s panopticon where the gazer and gazee are both constructing the gaze. The Panopticon mechanism is a subtle way by which the object becomes the subject of his/her own gaze. It is this dialectical notion of the construction of the gaze that is important to the host gaze. MacCannell invites us to visit, among others, Jacques Lacan, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty to get different versions of the gaze of the gazer. In MacCannells’ terms the “clinical gaze will not be denied. If it cannot see inside the living body, it will see inside eventually, in surgery or postmortem” (p. 28).

By gazing at the gaze of the gazer upon the gazee, new theories may arise for several reasons. First, most of the social and cultural theories of tourism have been developed from the experiences of Western tourists and consequently some may not be directly applicable to non-Western tourists, such as the Asian (Chang, 2006), the African or the Middle Eastern. Second, most theories of tourism encounters are based on the Anglo-American experience and mostly focus on the interplay between the culture of the host in a developing country and that of the guest from a developed country. Third, an examination of tourism literature shows little cross-cultural research (Dimanche, 1994). Fourth, much of the existing host-guest literature is outdated. Fifth, information about the host gaze is negligible compared to that on the tourist gaze.

MacCannell suggests that what is invisible is merely hidden and is there to be uncovered. Imbedded in MacCannell’s second gaze concept is a third gaze – the gaze of the ‘critical’ academic (see also Tribe, 2008). This third gaze can help to deconstruct and develop our understanding of the gaze as hosts.

For further inquiries, please contact

                                              BOOK EDITORS

Voting behavior has often been used as a dependent variable in research. In this research project we used voting behavior as an independent variable. The purpose of the research was to empirically examine the effect of voting behavior on tourism perceptions in a Dutch-Moroccan context. A previous study indicated that to comprehensively study destination image in a multicultural society there is a need to examine the role of perceptions and stereotypes in mediating travel propensity. Specifically the present study sought to examine the extent to which voting behavior has an impact on destination visitation. Subsequently, Dutch respondents (N=195) were asked their perceptions of (a) people of Moroccan origin living in the Netherlands, (b) Moroccan people living in Morocco, (c) Morocco as a tourism destination, and (d) Moroccan women. These questions emerged from a prior qualitative study which indicated that Dutch travel propensity to visit Morocco was mediated by factors including their perceptions of Moroccan ‘immigrants’ residing in the Netherlands which was overwhelmingly negative.  The results of the most recent national ellections and public opinion polls attest to that. Appropriate test statistics was used accordingly to assess for differences between the two groups.

Specifically, the study considered two opposite political parties, with diverging ideologies especially with regards to immigration, citizenship and diversity: the Green Party (Greon Links) and the populist party the Freedom Party (PVV). Respondents were asked to provide their opinion about a set of statements using a Liket-Scale of 1 to 5, where 1=Strongly Disagree and 5=Strongly Agree. The results were based on a random sample of GL respondents (n=100) and PVV (n=95). The results confirm that effectively the PVV voters are less inclined to visit Morocco than their GL counterparts. Please note that this is just a snapshot of a large data set. For more information contact us.

This communication is based on the results of a mixed-mode survey design. The first qualitative research phase has set the ground for the quantitative research conducted in the second phase of the study (click on title to read more). For more information contact us by e-mail: omar.moufakkir@stenden.com or by phone: (00)31 582441301.

(Click on title to read more)

In a few years, the growing number of immigrants has transformed culture shock into culture unrest (Moufakkir, 2008, p.86), defined as “the context where two cultures live together, but at a level of acceptance that has developed from a state of euphoria, apathy, to annoyance, or even antagonism”, sometimes expressed verbally and even physically. In a destination image study, we found the Dutch perceptions of people of Moroccan origin living in the Netherlands to be overwhelmingly negative, confirming similar opinions expressed in the media (ref. Table 1, qualitative information). The social and political landscape of the Netherlands was infected by the murder of right wing politician Pim Fortuyn just before the national election in May 2002. Despite and/or because of his death, his party List Pim Fortuyn (LPF) won 17% of the national vote, making it the second strongest political party in the country. Besides a rising mistrust of politicians, Fortuyn’s success was attributed to the issue of ‘unsuccessful’ integration of ethnic minorities (Krouwel et al., 2006) or what Scheffer (2000) referred to as the “multi-cultural drama”. In addition to this, the murder in November 2004 of outspoken anti-Islamic opinion-leader, filmmaker Theo van Gogh, shocked the nation. In such a tragic environment, the fear of inter-ethnic polarization, as well as the need for effective measures for integration, appears to be a reality (Krouwel et al., 2006). During the March 2010 Dutch municipal elections the PVV won in Almere with 21.6 % of all votes, making it the biggest party in the city with nine seats in the municipal board. In Den Haag, winning eight seats, they came second to the PVDA (Labor Party) and became more popular than the CDA (Christian Democrats). More importantly, a public opinion poll (peiling) of 2500 voters undertaken by Synovate during the same period indicated that this ultranationalist party would be the third most important political party in the country with 24 seats compared to nine seats in 2006. The poll by Maurice de Hond, also a very well known poll group, indicated that the PVV would become the biggest party in the country with 27 seats. As was reported in the media, these results were a shock to Dutch people and to the world community, because of the reputation of the Netherlands as a multi-cultural society noted for its tolerance and multiculturalism.

The results of a study conducted by the Tourism for Peace (lectoraat) research group are (graphs below), no surprise because they simply confirm ”public opinion” perceptions about the Moroccan Allochtonen in the Netherlands which are overwhelmingly negative. The whys of this phenon is not the subject of this communication. Rather, it is noted that Dutch people who visited Morocco were found to be less prejudiced towards Moroccans than those who did not. Tourism, in the context of this study seems to reduce prejudice. Furthermore, as those who have visited Morocco appear to be less prejudiced than those who did not, it could be suggested that tourism has to some extent a positive impact on perceptions.  

In the 9^th century B.C. epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer observed: “a guest never forgets a host who has treated him kindly”. It is possible that as guests who have been treated kindly in Morocco, the Dutch return home as hosts whose prejudices towards Moroccans in the Netherlands have been positively mediated.

That is, because of the important relation between tourism, immigration, prejudice, cultural diversity and integration, the Moroccan minstry of tourism should work together with other ministries, especially the ministry of immigration. It is unfortunate that tourism in Morocco  has not yet evolved from destination selling and promotion, to destination branding, and nation branding. Again, the irony is that Moroccan nationals abroad, in a period of less than 60 years, are set to mirror “justly or unjustly” the Moroccan people and a culture of thousands of years. And it is this mirror and the seriousness of this irony that deserve more attention in the study and “doing” of tourism.

In The Gambia you will find a mediterranean environment with an African hospitality that will exceed your expectations. A year-round sun destination with a touch of wind that takes you away from your daily routine to a relaxed beach atmosphere where service excellence is as natural as the face of the Smiling Coast. This young beach destination flavored with touches of old ethnic cultural activities will welcome you, relax you, and energise YOU. All in a safe environment, day or night, the hospitality of the Gambian people, whether working in the tourism industry or not, will make you feel special, not only because they understand the importance of tourism to their economy, but also because they are proud people and people proud of their country. They will make you come back.

Your visit to The Gambia -the smiling coast of Africa- will help the Gambian economy and WILL contribute to the Gambians’ quality of life. You need to see it to believe it! http://www.visitthegambia.gm/