Big Apple boss calls for creativity in tourism

By Ebrima Jallow Aziz Yusuf, chief executive officer of the Big Apple Executive Lounge Gambia limited has said that Gambia can challenge countries like Dubai in terms of tourism development if it implements all the good recommendations it has in place. “When the new government came in something came to my mind and that is now that the country will be free and I know a lot of investors will be coming to the Gambia, we must try to create something different so that tourists will always have new attractions to the country,” he said in a Standard interview recently. Yusuf added that the Senegambia area alone should not be the center of tourism in the Gambia adding that more places can be created. “I am expecting other people to follow suit because the country has a lot of potentials. If we leverage on the opportunities we have in the Gambia honestly we will really make something out of it. And I want to also say that it should not be only about profit making,” he said. He said the Big Apple was created to add to such a facility to boost and diversify Gambian tourism. “Gambians can be coming here not only for drinking because I actually open the place for business minded people. There are a lot of places to party but this place is not only a club; it is a place for networking. You meet different people, share ideas together if you meet an investor. I actually went around the world to different entertainment places to see, so that when we also have tourists coming in we can have something different from what we have before,” he said. “We created something very different in the Gambia because when we open this lounge, most people were confusing it for a club because Gambians I don’t think are very familiar with a lounge business. Ii is a new thing in The Gambia we have to rectify many people calling it a club. And we have to pass a message that the difference with a club and lounge is we are always open from morning till night and we also have a restaurant alongside, it is basically for networking, relaxing and for fine dining in the Gambia,” he said.]]>