EU validates Tourism and Creative Industries Roadmap

The European Union, through its Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) on Tourism and Creative Industries, has led the validation of The Gambia’s Tourism and Creative Industries Roadmaps (2025–2029), marking a decisive step toward restructuring two of the country’s most strategic sectors.

The validation workshop, held at the Senegambia Beach Hotel, convened key stakeholders from government, private sector, development partners, and industry associations to scrutinise and endorse the strategic frameworks that will guide sector growth over the next five years.

The roadmaps are the product of an extensive, evidence-based and consultative process, incorporating sector diagnostics, expert input, and stakeholder engagement. They outline clear operational strategies aimed at boosting competitiveness, strengthening institutional capacity, expanding market access, and driving investment in both tourism and the creative economy.

Over the two-day session, stakeholders reviewed final draft documents, including diagnostic findings, strategic priorities, and implementation plans, while validating proposed interventions and securing broad-based endorsement from both public and private actors. The frameworks are anchored on key outcomes, notably improving the business environment, strengthening institutional ecosystems, and enhancing investment and market access for tourism and creative goods and services.

Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Amie Njie-Joof, described the exercise as a turning point for national economic development, stressing that the two roadmaps represent a unified strategy for sector transformation.

“For decades, The Gambia has relied on its ‘Smiling Coast’ identity, but global tourism has evolved. Today’s traveller demands authenticity, sustainability, and cultural immersion,” she said. “These roadmaps respond directly to that shift with practical, actionable measures.”

She noted that the Tourism Roadmap pivots from generic destination marketing to curated Gambian experiences, including the River Gambia corridor, diaspora heritage trails, creative coastlines, and adventure circuits. It also embeds sustainability standards and digital empowerment for MSMEs.

On the creative sector, she highlighted the introduction of a cluster-based model that organizes the industry into creative goods, services, and experiences — a first for The Gambia.

Njie-Joof cautioned that successful implementation will depend on stronger institutions, including a more effective National Centre for Arts and Culture and a revitalised Gambia Tourism Board, alongside sustained public-private collaboration.

EU Representative Lumana Kamashi reaffirmed tourism’s central role in The Gambia’s economy, citing its contribution to employment, foreign exchange earnings, and enterprise development, while warning that the sector must evolve to meet global demands for quality, innovation, and sustainability.

She added that the roadmap provides a structured pathway to improve the business environment, unlock investment, and enhance the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. She also underscored the strong link between tourism and the creative industries.

“The EU has consistently supported The Gambia’s creative sector, from cultural heritage initiatives such as the Kankurang Festival in Janjanbureh to fashion, crafts and performing arts showcased at national and international platforms,” she said.

International Trade Centre (ITC) Country Representative Yusupha Keita stressed that the roadmaps are locally driven and grounded in stakeholder realities.

“These are not donor-imposed strategies. They reflect the actual challenges faced by Gambian actors — from skills gaps and infrastructure deficits to market access constraints and institutional fragmentation — as well as the solutions proposed by the stakeholders themselves,” he said.

He added that the frameworks aim to transform these challenges into opportunities, strengthening competitiveness, sustainability, and inclusiveness across both sectors.