By Arret Jatta
The Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Dr Ismaila Ceesay, has defended the much criticised airport fee, saying it makes the airport safer and more credible in the eyes of the international community. The fee has been widely criticised by both Gambians and foreign travellers alike. Many operators in the tourism industry blamed it for the reported low number of tourist to The Gambia.
But confronted with concerns about the fee from a Gambian in the diaspora on West Coast Radio’s Coffee Time, Dr Ceesay said the policy is not unique to The Gambia, citing countries like Senegal and Sierra Leone that he said has similar things.
“The only difference is that these countries have it embedded in the ticket while in The Gambia it is collected at the airport. But we are still working hard to make sure it is charged on the ticket at the purchasing,” Dr Ceesay said.
The minister argued that the benefits of the security fee is that it helps in funding the safety and credibility enhancement of the airport thus making Gambia a very safe airport in international aviation
“The security fee is a necessary evil. It’s something we have to do to ensure the safety of our airport to our visitors and citizens,” he said.
Addressing concerns that the security fee might be deterring tourists from coming to The Gambia, Dr Ceesay said: “We have not got any data which tells us that tourists are not coming to Gambia because of the security fee. Actually there has been a boom in tourism sector with lots of arrivals despite the security fee”.
