By Maimuna Sey-Jawo
Inhabitants of Tumani Tenda village in the Kombo East District of the West Coast Region recently benefited from a five-day capacity building training on eco-tourism community based management practices.
The five days convergence held at Tumani Tenda camp was funded by the forest and farm facility (FFF) under the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
The training seminar, according officials was meant to sensitize the community members on how to better manage their lodge camp with a view to attracting investors and tourists.
Speaking at the forum, Seedy Lamin Bah a consultant who is also lecturing tourism and hospitality management at the UTG, described the forum as timely.
The training, Bah noted, will expose participants to the concepts of eco-tourism community based management in order to help them to better manage and develop eco-tourism camps.
Commenting on the significance of tourism, Bah stated that the sector is one of the highest economic earners of the country, thus considering the geographical location and the friendly environment of the country, it is of paramount importance to organize the training.
“We will continue on our commitment in helping inhabitants of Tumani Tenda and its catchment area so as to widen their understanding on ethics and techniques of eco-tourism management in order to effectively manage their projects,” he stated.
“If the village has to improve, there is need to improve the standard of the lodging and the restaurant. In fact it is of importance to look into the area of access, accommodation of the lodge in order to attract more tourists,” he remarked.
For his party, Kebba Sanyang, the manager of Tumani Tenda eco-tourism camp dwelled on the crucial role of the forum, while describing the training as very vital and timely.
The training, he stated, was conducted in partnership with the department of forestry and all forestry platform of the Gambia.
The objective of the training, he went on, is to involve the beneficiary community in order to capacitise them on eco-tourism management. He thanked FAO through FFF for supporting this laudable training, thus he called on the participants to spread the message to others.
