By Arret Jatta
With the start of the new season, an old complaint by the local tourism operators has reemerged – the All-Inclusive Package. Through this, hotels provide guests with everything from accommodations and meals to excursions and craft sales.
While this trend enhances convenience for tourists, local operators in the tourism sector are raising concerns that these all-inclusive offers are limiting their opportunities to benefit from the bustling tourist season.
Haruna Barry, a horse rider around the Senegambia beach, said the tourist season has opened but it is quite different from the past seasons.
“Before when tourists come, they spend their money anyhow they please, because there was no inclusivity in hotels, but ever since hotels started their all-inclusive package, the tourists barely spend their money outside and this is really affecting us the local operators,” he stressed.
He added that everything the tourists could go and get outside has now been included in the hotels they stay in.
“For instance, the guests should make use of the rooms and food in the hotels, and they should be free to go out and explore the country and interact with the local people because most of them are here to explore the country and learn about the culture but they won’t be able to have this experience because of the all-inclusive in hotels,” he explained.
He also noted that they pay for their license every year but most times, they are not allowed to be around hotels or even talk to tourists.
Haruna urged the ministry responsible for tourism to intervene and help them remove the all-inclusive in hotels as it is affecting the local operators.
Modou Gaye, also a horse rider, noted that most of the problems they face stem from lack of customers and lack of support from the government.
“What we need is water for our stables, access to electricity, we also need a permanent place for our horses and financial help as well,” he highlighted.
Modou Camara, the Chief Controller of Palma Rima Tourist Taxis Association, also mentioned that the all-inclusive in hotels has affected their work.
Camara, who has been in the tourism industry for 29 years, said that the all-inclusive started sometime in 2016, noting that it has been happening before with just 20% but it has gone beyond that.
“Imagine if you pay everything inside, you will not want to do a long trip. The only trip we have nowadays is from here to Monkey Park which does not favor the drivers, and it is also a
competition between us and the tour companies that bring the guests here, they sell most of the best trips, like the round trips and all-day trips, we only have the small trips which doesn’t cost much,” he said.
He added that local operators are not benefiting now, saying that it is only the hotel owners that are benefiting from the tourists.
A few years ago, the then minister of tourism Hamat Bah said all-inclusive package is unavoidable and must be regulated.
