a... flywdfimfigfifi i .V 3 , . , 5......5 c . . .f .r: .4 .: A .re iii-1M '7‘7‘ 1 . v—‘vv‘w‘fi I y peg; fiat/the ..‘. $815 ‘ . . . .. l . l . ‘ . . . . ‘ . . . . ‘ . Y . ..\ ‘ . ‘ . . ‘ v - ~oa 4 . . v v A . y . . y ‘ . . . . . . . . . . .. . y. I y y. . . . . y. . ‘ u . I .| . u. . .. { r . ‘ I ¢ 2 .0 ‘ . fl 1 1 .. . . :w u ‘ I ‘ .... ..c J. . :3 \ .s 1:115. 2.9. . 4......v\<.‘. -..~..v .1. . . .w I... all: $5» , . .¥ x!h.h\.§$2¢.u¥¢, ......n?!:i-... v. u .. . . .. .. 2.31.446: .55.. S1 3...... .a. 3R4 fi 1 ‘7‘ . “1‘ 1 - “3?. ‘t P ;_ L 6' ‘1' ix ,1 u _ c. ' }_ 4‘ r i n a... , a _ l: ' - . q" = YIIV (:1 5-2:: 9 I Mdgfl ABSTRACT DEVELOPING TOURISM WITHIN A DEPENDENCY NETWORK: THE CASE OF GAMBIA Underdevelopment structually links less developed countries to the world community in a dependent manner, and has given rise to serious problems of economic viability and social change. Thus, it is imparative that any development alternative employed to counteract these institu- tional arrangements be carefully analyzed and actualized if history is not to repeat itself. The concern of this thesis is with the possible impact of a tourist industry on the socio-economic milieu of less developed countries. 0n the surface, less developed countries generally appear to have an enormous potential for successful development of a tourist industry because of the expansion and growth of international tourism demand, in general, and favorable trends to these areas of the world, in particular. Moreover, many less developed countries are richly endowed with cultural and natural touristmagnetic attractions and because of little explora- tion present fresh markets to tourism's advocates. The two most significant ways in which tourism could assist less developed countries in their pursuit of economic and social development is through the creation of more employment opportunities and the attain- ment of a more favorable balance of payments situation. While this study acknowledges the potentialities of tourism, it also demonstrates that this potential is historically, economically and socially relative. Part I of this thesis focuses on the important changes in the world order that gave rise to international tourism and how it gradually came to be considered a viable development alternative by less developed countries. Secondly, emphasis is placed on the need for understanding the institutional arrangement in which tourism is being develOped, i.e., underdevelopment and structural dependence as they act as constraints on developmental endeavors. The main body of this thesis consists of a case study of tourism in The Gambia. It was found that tourism did not affect a significant break with The Gambia's historical past of dependence, but further involved it in a dependency network. In the past The Gambia was dependent on industrialized markets for the export of its groundnuts. Through tourism it is now dependent on them as sources of demand flows for its tourist industry, to provide foreign private capital, and through the importation of foodstuffs, liquor and infrastructural materials. From the empirical case of The Gambia, it was found that tourism's potentialities for aiding development were substantially reduced. The data indicate The Gambia earns little if any revenue from its tourist industry because of non-Gambian ownership of tourist plant, lucrative investment incentives, the high import content of the industry and infrastructural requirements. All of these factors reduce the actual foreign exchange earnings that accrue to The Gambia. Murile it has increased employment quantitatively, qualitatively it leaves much to be desired as the better paying jobs are filled by expatriates and the seasonal nature of tourism results in unemployment and underemployment for part of the year. While it is true that tourism has some socially redeeming qualities in The Gambia, the major over-all affect has been to produce social strain.‘ This has taken a number of forms such as cultural erosion, dislike and resentment of foreigners, environmental despoilage and a premature departure to modernization through an odd injection of western values eminating from visiting tourists. The defects in the reality of tourism's development in The Gambia, as opposed to its potentialites, stem from internal as well as external factors. On the one hand, government officials failed to identify relevant drawbacks and limitations of this development alternative and were dilatory in effectively dealing with the problems generated by its expansion. 0n the other hand, the underdeveloped state in which most less developed countries find themselves gives them little control over the supply and demand factors that ultimately affect their tourist industries. From the case study of The Gambia some key areas were identified in which less developed countries might encounter difficulty in establishing a successful tourist industry and some policy measures were suggested. The probable result of the implementation of these measures would be a decrease in the volume of tourism and the possible loss of interest on the part of foreign private investors. The overall conclusion from this study was that few if any less developed countries should rely soley on tourism to bring about development, DEVELOPING TOURISM WITHIN A DEPENDENCY NETWORK: THE CASE OF GAMBIA by Billye Jean Suttles A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Sociology I975 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my deepest appreciation to my major advisor, Dr. Ruth 5. Hamilton. I found her suggestions indespensable to the conceptualization and completion of this thesis and thank her warmly for her continual guidance and sincere enthusiam. My deepest gratitude also goes to Miss Beverly Gray. Library of Congress, who greatly assisted me in locating materials for this study, Professor N'Yang, A Gambian citizen, who privided insight into the problems his country faced in terms of development, Mrs. Marge Winters for her editorial contributions, and Dr. Alfred E. Opubor who took a keen interest in this study and provided me with invaluable resources. Finally my sincerest appreciation goes to my family, for their love and support and to my friends who positively encouraged me during the writing of this thesis: Irving Williams, Johnnierenee Jackson, Babs Kasali, Amelia Opubor, Louis Simms and Mrs. Hiawatha Cromer. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS 5:393 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi PART I: GENERAL INTRODUCTION Chapter I. TOURISM: A SIGNIFICANT SOCIAL REALITY l Statement of the Problem 2 II. THE EVOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND THE DEPENDENCY CYCLE 0F LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES l0 A. The Emergence of International Tourism l0 B Tourism and Less Developed Countries 15 C. The African Component of International Tourism l9 D The Implications of Tourism Development for Less Developed Countries 19 E. Tourism Development and Dependency Networks 25 1. Selected Perspective of the Idea of Development 27 2. The Nature of Underdevelopment 30 3. The Structure of Dependence 33 4. The Mechanisms of Dependence Through International Tourism 37 PART II: Chapter CASE STUDY OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE GAMBIA III THE GAMBIA AND THE STRUCTURE OF TOURISM A. B. Background to The Gambia The Gambia as a Tourist Destination Tourist Arrivals to The Gambia Cruise Ship Visitors Sources of Visitors to The Gambia -§ com—0 .00. Seasonality in Gambian Tourism The Structure of Tourism 1. Transportation 2. Accommodations 3. Ancillary Services 4. Infrastructure 5. Matching Supply with Demand: The Trend waards Integration IV CHANGING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEMENSIONS OF TOURISM A. The Economic Component 1. U'lhOJN 0000 Tourism as a Source of Foreign Exchange a. Non-Gambian Ownership of Tourist Plant b. Government Policy on Investment Incentives c. Importation, Inflation and the Cost of Living d. Infrastructural Requirements Tourism's Effect on Employment The TOurism Multiplier The Stimulus to Secondary Industries Dispersion of Devel0pment iv Page 46 46 62 62 65 66 7O 72 72 75 75 78 78 92 92 93 96 99 100 103 106 108 109 Chapter B. The Social Component I. 3. 4. Cultural Erosion a. Conflicting Value Systems b. Parading the Primitive to Woo the Tourists c. Staged Authenticity d. Commercialism Xenophobia The Psychological Impact of Tourism Density of Tourists Relative Deprivation vs. Affluence Perceived Servility The Lack of Benefits to the Local Populace The Fostering of Social Cleavages Environmental Despoilage Premature Departure of Modernization 'thO-OU'DJ C. Government Regulation of the Tourist Industry in The Gambia PART III: EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION POLICY CHOICES AND IMPLICATIONS Alternative Tourism Restructuring Employment Opportunities Offsetting Government Costs Import Reduction Alternatives to HTO Monopolies and Charter Tours Controlling the Growth Rate Staggering Holidays Planning for the Tourism Sector Page IIO III III II3 II4 II5 Il6 II7 II8 II8 II9 II9 IZI I23 125 126 I45 I46 I47 I47 I48 I48 I50 150 ISI BIBLIOGRAPHY TABLE OCDNO‘U‘Ih IO II I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 FIGURE I 2 3 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Growth of International Tourism l948-l97l Comparison of Performance of International Tourism with Other Items of Trade, l960-7l Comparison of Rates of Tourism and Trade Receipts in Developed and Less Developed Countries l965-l97l International Tourist Arrivals l969-197O International Tourist Receipts l969-l970 l973 Census of The Gambia: Population by Age Group Total Estimated Employment in The Gambia - 1969 Groundnut Exports 1890-l974 Number of Tourist Arrivals to The Gambia l964-l974 Number of Tourist to West Africa l970-l97l Sources of Visitors by Declared Residence 1976-l977 Characteristics of Sunlust and Wanderlust Tourists Forecast Seasonal Distribution of Tourist Arrivals l976-1977 Number of Hotels and Hotel Beds Available in The Gambia l964-l974 Hotel Characteristics in The Gambia Breakdown of Expenditure on Tourism Specific Infra- structure 1972-l982 Profile of The Gambia Map of The Gambia Vertical Integration Koto Stream in Relationship to Banjul I54 l8 20 21 48 so 59 63 64 68 69 7I 76 95 I02 SI Sla 8l I3I To my mother In appreciation for all those painstaking years vii A man that hath traveled knoweth many things; And he that hath much experience will declare wisdom. He that hath no experience knoweth little; But he that hath traveled is full of prudence. When I traveled, I saw many things; and I understand more than I can express. Ecclesiastes, Chapter 34 viii CHAPTER I PART I: GENERAL INTRODUCTION Tourism: A Significant Social Reality Perhaps history will show that in the mid-twentieth century, tourism exceeded all other influences in creating a pervasive impact on world economic, cultural and social behavior. At present, however, the concept of international tourism is relatively new and only dimly understood by most economists and social philosophers. It has never- theless exploded into a world already overcrowded with international complexities, yet gaining recognition and growing interest as a tool for economic development. Due to the vastness of tourism as an international industry, even those who have elected to study this phenomenon are inevitably forced to deal with it in limitation rather than exhaustively. There is perhaps no other industry more complex. Parodoxically tourism is relatively easly to identify, yet hard to define and statistically slippery. Its origin is difficult to pinpoint but its growth has been prodigious. Uniquely, "tourism is confined to no one place, no one clientele and no one type of service."1 A no less elusive, but more concrete explanation of tourism would be the entire world industry of travel components being hotels, trans- portation and all other coterminous industries permeated by tourism which serve the needs and wants of travelers. Tourism is somewhat different from other sectors of the economy, since it is an industry based more on the movement of people rather '1 than on goods. For this reason, it is particularly susceptible to subjective considerations quite apart from the play of economic forces. Tourism has significant implications for cultural heritage (for example, the restoration of ancient monuments); aesthetic values (the preservation of ecological harmonYI; social change (urbanization, migration and increased cross-cultural interaction); and political administration (tourism exerts increased strains on the bureaucratic machinery). Thus, tourism is not a clear-cut sector but a multifaceted one, necessitating inclusive consideration of its economic, social, cultural and political ramifications. Statement of the Problem The concern of this study is with the socio-economic realities of tourism promotion by the less developed world. Heretofore, the task ~ of analyzing tourism and its relevance for less developed countries (LDC's) has been largely left up to economists and institutions like the World Bank, the International Union of Official Travel Organizations and the United Nations. All have been overtly concerned with the economics of tourism rather than a thorough investigation of its total ramifica- tions. Generally, economic theory reduces the effects of tourism to some common denominator: the value of additional net worth due to tourism. Effects which cannot or have not yet been reduced to this yardstick are ignored, as exemplified in the work of Frank Mitchell, an East African tourist expert. Mitchell believes that the economic value of tourism is distinct from the political, social and cultural consequences of the activity.2 “These consequences may be important and interesting but their analysis does not fit into present economic theory. This does not mean that no comparison can be made between the 'economic' and non- economic consequences of tourism."3 But, it does mean, in his view, that economic theory provides no concepts with which to measure these effects. Such an approach to the study of tourism is based on artifical distinc- tions which ultimately are but a measure of the incapacity of "estab- lished" economic theory to deal with reality. It is the intention of this study to digress from the traditional perspective of viewing tourism in an economic vacuum, as the Iatter is both conservative and unsuited to the problems of development confronting the less developed world today. What is theoretically true about tourism‘s potential as an engine of growth becomes historically, economically and socially relative when applied in an empirical manner. Thus, a more appropriate methodological approach to the study of tourism would involve the interconnectedness of these factors. The ahistorical manner in which tourism has been previously analyzed comouflages certain difficulties of its development encountered by less developed countries. Such analyses have proven to be misleading and the first correctional task is to provide an appropriate historical ~ framework. The decade of the l960's opened with a new wave of optimistic expectations on the part of less developed countries. There were, first of all, the massive decolonization efforts, which to many implied the eclipse of imperialism and the possibility of meaningful economic reconstruc- tion by the former colonial people, now that 4 political power was an indigenous phenomenon. Secondly, even the United Nations General Assembly enthusiastically designated the 1960's as the Development Decade, expressing the 'desire of the world community to accelerate the development process in the less fortunate areas of the world.l In fact, the General Assembly also expressed its conviction that the expansion of trade and the resulting increase in foreign-exchange earnings offered the most rapid method of aiding the develop- ment of new nations.5 But, as the so-called development decade gradually wore on, it became increasingly evident that these political winds of change and the promised inter- national efforts were not being accompanied by com- mensurate economic prosperity and well-being in less developed countries. The obvious question is why not? Theotonio Dos Santos, Professor of Economics at the University of Chile, views the apparent and persistent inequality among nations ~/"* to be a structural element of the world economy, i.e., development of 7 parts of the system occurs at the expense of other parts. While traditional theories of economic development (typically emanating from developed countries and hence reflecting their biases) admit the existence of an external dependence, they are unable to perceive it as a consequence and part of the process of the world expansion of capitalism, a part that is necessary to and integrally linked with it.8 There is a growing body of sociological literature that supports the tenets of structual dependence in analyzing the problems of deveIOp- ment for Third World countries. Representative of this recent body of literature are the works of Cockroft, Frank & Johnson, Dependence and UnderdevelOpment and Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. These works trace the origins of the inequality between nations to the historical relationship of dominance by metropolitan powers over the former colonial countries in Latin America and Africa respectively. The concept of underdevelopment translates into exploitation and the mani- festation of this situation over time results in structural dependence. These concepts permit one to see the continuity between historical dependence and present-day problems of development. In this study the framework of structural dependence will be utilized to ascertain the merit of tourism as a development alternative \ for less developed countries. From this perspective it is hoped that more appropriate policy considerations and decisions can be generated, i.e., what are the necessary and available resources for the development of tourism; how does it affect government revenue and expenditures; how does it affect the growth and stability of employment; does it further involve less developed countries in forms of growth suggested or dictated externally? ‘The advantage of this approach, over its prede- cessor, is the totality of relationships - internal, external, historical, economic and social - inherent in the conceptualization of structural dependence. An understanding of these factor interrelationships is, in the view of this author, essential to an understanding of the effects of tourism on less developed countries. This study will attempt to redress two other weaknesses that persist in analytical works on tourism. The economic costs associated with tourism's “ deveIOpment have received scant attention in the literature. Many have admitted the presence of such costs, but the general impression is that the; are negligible com- pared to the benefits. Secondly, the socio-cultural impact of tourism's development has often been treated as an externality or minimized in a way that is hardly scientific. Although the specific relationship between economic and social development has been a matter of controversy, it seems generally accepted that economic progress, unless it goes hand in hand with social advancement is likely to become stunted and mishapen.I0 Therefore, this study will attempt to establish the effect of tourism on social development in less developed countries. Since these effects are largely unquantifiable, no attempts will be made to measure them as such. However, certain inferences can and will be made, supported by the data presented in this study. In response to the aforementioned weaknesses and omissions, the purpose of this study is to expand upon the sc0pe of tourism analysis, - such that a comprehensive and more meaningful perception of its effects on less developed countries will be the end result. To facilitate this task, within structural limits, use will be made of the case-study approach. The evolution and growth of tourism in The Gambia was chosen with respect to the following criteria. It is suggested that The Gambia reflects in microcosm the issues and problems which would confront almost any less developed country promoting tourism, especially in light of the fact that she is Africa's smallest and poorest nation. It has many features in common with other less developed , countries such as: l) few basic exports generally signifying an agricul- turally based economy 2) the reliance on export markets in industrial countries 3) fairly rapid population growth, in the face of growing unemployment 4) uneven distribution of property, land and incomes in extremity 5) inadequate levels of skill, education and native entrepreneurship 6) and a common strand of history: colonial rule by a metropolitan power.II In addition, The Gambia has already gone some considerably way in expanding its tourist sector, has invested public money in tourist infrastructure and promotion, and has benefited to some degree as well as suffered from the social and economic parameters associated with tourism. In fact, The Gambia has the fastest growing rate of tourist arrivals in West Africa.12 While The Gambia may have earned more prestige than actual hard cash so far from its tourist industry, its touristmagnetic attractions make it one of the few West African countries with any real prospects for development of a successful tourist industry. The greatest attrac--’~ tions are the clean and relatively safe beaches and the agreeable weather. Since l965, until present, The Gambia remains the scene of an annual Swedish deluge and is a growing competitor of the Canary Islands as a winter sunshine center for Scandinavians. Lastly, the regional location of West Africa affords the opportunity to do some pioneering research, as the tendency in the past has been to f0cus on tourism in East Africa, where its growth has been more prodigious as well as reflecting a different kind of tourism. Tourism in East Africa is a game-watching affair, where the tourists are whisked from the airport to the game parks, located away from the residential areas. Tourism in West Africa is predicated more on climatic considerations and culture-seeking tourists which implies a greater degree of social confrontation between foreign tourists and the indigenous population. The data for this case study was gathered from available resources in the United States. Extensive use was made of Gambian news- 3 papers, African periodicals, travel-related journals and documents of ( international organizations and agencies concerned with development. I While a single case study cannot establish the existence of a I patterned effect of tourism on less developed countries, the information ’ presented and the method of investigation used in this study could suggest questions to be asked and issues to be raised by other less 4 developed countries which have embarked, or are proposing to embark, on \Q) a tourist development programme. Since it is important to consider any activity in light of the institutional arrangements in which it takes place, the concern of Chapter Two is establishing the general context of this study. Attention is focused on the position of tourism with respect to historical pre- cedent and development in Africa. Chapter Three moves from the general to the particular. The historical, political, economic and social parameters that pertain to The Gambia's background are examined. The growth and structure of tourism are then examined within this particular context. Drawing upon the data presented in Chapter Three, Chapter Four is an analysis of the relationship between the Gambia's tourist industry and socio-economic and political changes that have accompanied its growth. Lastly, Chapter Five is concerned with alternative policy choices, generated by the case study, that would reduce the dependence, loss of revenue and negative social effects experienced by many less developed countrfies as a result of tourism promotion. 0F. 1‘ , , l FOOTNOTES: CHAPTER I 1Somerset Waters, "The Domestic Travel Industry - An Invisible Sleeping Giant." A paper read before the Travel Research Association Conference, Rye, New York, October 9, l963, p. l. 2F. M. Mitchell, "The Economic Value of Tourism in Kenya," University of California, 1971, p. 21. 31bid., p. 18. 4J. F. Reweyemamu, "International Trade and the Developing Countries," The Journal of Modern African Studies, 7, 2, 1969, p. 203. 5U.N. General Assembly Resolutions l7lO and l707 (va), Passed on the l9th of December, l96l. 6Rweyemamu, 0p.cit., p. 203. 7Theontonio Dos Santos, "The Structure of Dependence,“ American Economic Review, Vol. LX, May, l970, p. 23l. 81bid., p. 231. 9John M. Bryden, Tourism and Development (Cambridge: The University Press, l973), p. 2} 10Jafar Jafari, Role of Tourism on Socio-Economic Transformation of Developing Countries, A Thesis presented’to the faculty of the graduate school of Cornell University for the Degree of Master of Science, l973, p. 156. nBryden, op.cit., p. 3. 12UN-ECA, Tourism in Africa, Annual Bulletin, 1972, March 5, l973, p. 2 of AdditionTT, E/CN .l4/TRANS/94. CHAPTER II THE EVOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND THE DEPENDENCY CYCLE OF LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES The purpose of this chapter is twofold. The chapter begins with an examination of the concept of travel and traces its evolution into modern-day international tourism. The role of tourism in the interna- tional economy, especially in relation to developing countries, is examined and statistical data relating to tourist arrivals and receipts are analyzed. Since the general context of this study is Africa, its place in the overall picture is also identified. Secondly, this chapter attempts to analyze some of the underlying reasons for the impotence of less developed countries to effect the "economic take-off into sustained economic growth." The purpose for so doing is to provide a conceptual framework of the institutional arrange- ments of the international economic system in which tourism is being developed. Hopefully one will gain some historical insight into why tourism has often failed to be of assistance to less develOped countries. A. The Emergence of International Tourism As far back as time itself, one finds evidence of human movement from one geographical area to another, making the history of travel an expansive field of study. Such an undertaking, however, would go beyond the sc0pe of this study which is concerned with the most recent chapter IO II in this long saga, i.e., the growth and evolution of international tourism. Yet an historical perspective would be instructive for under- standing international tourism‘s break with the past. After migration, trade has been the mainspring of travel.1 Little imagination is needed to appreciate the hazards encountered by travelers in all but the most highly developed periods of civilization and travel usually taken as the last resort and rarely associated with the idea of leisure or pleasure.2 In these days when leisure is taken for granted as one of the fundamental rights of man, it sometimes goes unappreciated that less than 100 years ago, leisure was almost nonexistent except for the privileged few. The concept of travel was to soak up the picturesque surroundings and enjoy works of art and the general atmosphere of being abroad.3 "The image of the tourist was embodied in the German Herr, the English lady, the American couple, the French family and the Dutch girl."4 Even 50 or 60 years ago there was very little leisure and holidays of more than one week were almost unheard of in offices and factories across the industrialized world. The birth of international tourism took place shortly after World ,. War II as favorable economic and social conditions emerged, augmented by technological and scientific advances. Higher real incomes, longer leisure time, demographic expansion and increasingly cheaper and varied tourist amenities provided the essential conditions for the growth of tourism. The spread of education has created greater cultural awareness and/or curiosity and stimulated the desire to travel. The progress of h {—7 I2 industrialization and urbanization has helped to create a psychological propensity to mobility and an urgent need for relaxation and recreation. Greater solicitude for social welfare has led large numbers of governments to introduce progressive legislation for longer paid holidays. It is forecast that by 2000 A.D. the present 40 to 48 hour work week in industrialized countries, the main tourist generating countries, will be reduced to 30 hours and the present four-week annual paid holiday increased to l2 weeks.5 The "tourists," in fact are a fairly recent phenomenon. Their social origins are more varied and so are their tastes. Their period of leisure is longer than their predecessors and they demand a much greater range of diversions to occupy it. Tourists are generally considered temporary visitors making at least an overnight stay in the country visited, the purpose of whose journey may relate to: leisure (recreation, holidays, health, study, religion and sports) business, conferences and a variety of other personal reasons excluding those for gainful employment.6 One way to demonstrate the growing importance of international tourism is to follow its growth pattern, in terms of international arrivals and receipts. Another way to assess the significance of tourism growth is to measure it against the performance of other items of world trade. Table One shows that in 1948, international tourist arrivals numbered l4,4l3,400 and total receipts from international tourism 9 amounted to 1.4 billion. By l97l, international tourist arrivals numbered 181,000,000 and international tourist receipts at 19.9 IO billion. Although great circumspection must be exercised in comparing 13 TABLE ONE] Growth of International Tourism 1948-1971 International Tourist International Tourist Arrivals Receipts Increase Increase over over Number previous previous Year Millions year ($Billions) year 1948 14,413,400 N.A. 1.4 N.A. 1958 55.3 N.A. 5.4 N.A 1959 63.0 13.9 5.8 7.3 1960 71.2 13.0 6.8 17.0 1961 75.3 5.8 7.3 7.3 1962 81.4 8.1 7.8 6.8 1963 93.0 14.3 8.3 6.4 1964 108.0 16.2 9.6 15.7 1965 115.5 6.9 11.0 14.6 1966 130.8 13.2 12.5 13.6 1967 139.5 6.6 13.4 7.2 1968 139.7 0.1 13.8 3.0 1969 154.9 9.4 15.5 12.3 1970a 168.0 8.4 17.4 11.2 1971a 181.0 7.0 19.9 11.2 Sources: International Union of Official Travel Organizations, Economic Review of World Tourism, 1972 Edition (Geneva 1972); Handbook of International Trade and Development Statistics (United Nations publication, Sales No. EF.69.11.D.15); United Nations, Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, Vol. XXV, No. 7, July 1971. aFigures for 1970 and 1971 are provisional. 14 TABLE Two8 Comparison of Performance of International Tourism with OtherFItems of Trade,71960-T971 (US $bn) Average Annual Increase (percent) 1960 1963 1966 1971 1960-1971 ———————‘ *International Tourism Receiptsa 6.8 8.3 12.5 20.9 +10.8 World Exports - Total (fob)b 128.3 154.3 203.9 346.0 + 9.4 World Exports of Agricultural Productsb 40.0 44.5 52.3 70.0 + 5.2 World Exports of Minerals 21.4 25.5 33.7 54.5 + 9.0 World Exportg of Manufactures 64.0 81.5 114.2 215.0 +11.6 *International tourist receipts are the receipts from payments of goods and services made by foreign visitors in the country visited, out of foreign-exchan e resources (IUOTO, International Travel Statistics, 1968 ed., p. 5? aIUOTO, Economic Review of World Tourism, 1972. bInternational Trade, 1971 GATT. 15 these figures, it is nevertheless significant that world tourism, measured in terms of arrivals and receipts, has grown thirteen times «” over in the last twenty-three years. It is predicted that by 1980 international tourism will account for between 250 to 280 million arrivals and nearly 1,000 million persons will take holidays by l990.n As a result, tourists will become increasingly important to world economics and add a new dimension to social and cross-cultural interaction. 8. Tourism and Less Developed Countries From traditional affluent playgrounds, mass tourism has now spilled copiously into the fresh markets presented to its advocates by the less developed countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Patrick Rivers (reporting for Africa Report) sees this as no accident. The tourist industries bankers, developers, hoteliers and transporters were keen to maintain their phenomenal post-war growth and boost profits still further. So they put together an attractive package of benefits, guaranteed to appeal to tourist ministers and leaders of most countries desperate to find a cure f0r crippling economic ills.I2 In response, it seems that many less developed countries look upon international tourism as manna from heaven which can assist in alleviat- ing foreign settlement difficulties.13 However, the lion's share of the international travel trade has so far gone to Europe and North America. Given the sustained increase in the standard of living and leisure in the world's richest nations, it is not surprising that Europe and North America together attract as much as 80 percent of international receipts.M -—" I6 In spite of this, the contribution that tourism can make to less developed countries is generally recognized. The United Nations Conference on International Travel and Tourism, for example, described it as an invisible export which can, and does, make a vital contribution to their growth.15 The participation of less developed countries in world tourism is very weak despite the widespread optimism. This is due neither to the lack of tourist attractions nor to a lack of appreciation of tourism's economic potentialities, but rooted in pre-independence conditions of economic instability. The problems facing the underdeveloped nations, in terms of tourism development, prior to the decade of the sixties, can be summarized as follows: 1) no effort was made to develop tourist resorts by colonial powers, nor was tourist traffic encouraged as the colony was the closed preserve of imperialism 2) many of the outstanding tourist attractions were not even known to the outside world 3) a dearth of technical know-how subverted the possibi- lity of developing countries to organize and effectively advertise tourism abroad 4) the means of communication, both internal and external, linking the developing countries to the rest of the world were poor 5) the developing regions were not properly connected by air services to permit free flow of tourists 6) those air services that were available were prohibitive cost-wise to the cross-section of the middle-class tourist population of tourist-generating countries 7) lack of tourist facilities and amenities in developing countries 8) and difficulties in procuring foreign exchange to 16 finance hotel, airport and public works infrastructure. 17 On the other hand, the international travel trade to the develop- ing countries has been growing at a somewhat faster rate than that of the developed countries, particularly in recent years. The relative significance assumed by tourism at the current time, when the deve10ping countries' share of world economic growth is declining, is manifest in Table Three. In fact, in tourism, the underdeveloped nations have certain ~w advantages over their industrialized counterparts; l) the tourists from the industrialized nations find the slower paced way of life in these countries a pleasant and relaxing experience 2) tourist money tends to go where prices are cheaper and these countries offer vacation bargains 3) underdeveloped nations circling the bottom half of the globe have warm climates permitting year-round operation of the tourist industry 4) investment climate is good because of higher profit realization by investors 5) manpower and cheap labor are in abundance 6) and a wealth of unexplored attractions beckon.18 At the present time about 20 percent of international tourist spending goes to the underdeveloped nations, and if this ratio is main- tained, it would mean that by 1978 these countries would be earning ‘9 At best this involves only minimal about eight billion from tourism. net flows of foreign exchange from developed countries to developing countries and at worst a net flow of foreign exchange to the deve10ped countries. 18 TABLE THREE17 Comparison of Rates of Tourism and Trade Receipts in DevelopedandTLess Deve10pedCountries, 196511971 (percent) 1965-1971 1965 1966 Tourisma Déveloped Countires +9.8 83.4 83.2 DevelOping Countries b +13.0 16.6 16.8 World Exports Developed Countries +14.4 78.0 78.8 Developing Countries +11.9 22.0 21.2 a100T0, b Monthly Bulletin Statistics. NOTE: Excludes certain East European countries. 1967 82.8 17.2 78.2 21.8 (percent) 1968 81.7 18.3 78.4 21.6 1969 80.2 19.8 78.9 21.1 1970 79.3 20.7 79.6 20.4 1971 80.8 19.2 79.8 20.2 United Nations: Review of International Trade and Development and 19 C. The African Component of International Tourism The growth of tourism has reached significant proportions in Africa, as evidenced by Table Four and Five. These figures indicate that tourist arrivals in Africa rose fourteen percent (1969-70) as compared with the world rate of nine percent and tourism receipts rose fifteen percent in Africa as compared with the world rate of twelve percent. Though the rate of growth is down compared with the year before, when arrivals rose nineteen percent and receipts eighteen percent, the performance in 1970 exceeded the IUOTO forecast prepared in 1966 and statisticians estimate an even faster growth rate over the next ten years.20 Recognizing, however, that simple analysis of tourist arrivals and receipts tells one little more than it is being actively promoted, one must necessarily go beyond this point in assessing its impact, both economic and social. 0. The Implications of Tourism Development foritess Deve10ped Countries Many areas of the world are characterized as being less than developed. They tend to have a relatively inflexible economic system dominated by an agricultural sector with low levels of productivity, capital accumulation and savings, a very rudimentary industrial sector plagued by inefficient methods of production utilizing antiquated technologies, a semi-literate population, accentuated by high birth and death rates, unemployment and underemployment and poor existing infra- structure. All of these characteristics contribute to low real per 20 TABLE FOUR International Tourist Arrivals 1969—70 (in millions) Regions 1969 1970 percent percent lncrease lncrease Africa 2.07 2.36 l4 19 America's 29.39 31.15 6 9 Europe 116.26 126.70 9 10 Middle East 2.36 2.48 5 2 Pacific 8 East Asia 3.44 4.46 30 26 South Asia 0.72 0.83 15 8 World Totals 154.0 168.0 9 10 Source: International Union of Official Travel Organizations (IUOT0). 21 TABLE FIVE International Tourists Receipts 1969-70 (US $M) Region 1969 1970 percent percent lncrease lncrease M Africa 338 390 15 18 Americas 4,439 4,840 9 13 Europe 9,602 10,690 11 11 Middle East 240 255 6 5 Pacific and East Asia 811 1,090 35 24 South Asia 117 135 15 9 World Totals 15,500 17,400 12 12 Source: International Union of Official Travel Organizations (IUOTO). 22 capita income, an over-dependence on agricultural exports and an environ- ment of economic and social stagnation. Faced with the need to bring about development in LDC‘s, a variety of alternatives have been tried. Some policy makers have concentrated their efforts on stimulating change in the agricultural sector. Others have tried to bring about change in the industrial sector. In others, concentration has centered on the foreign sector or on a number of key sectors. Still others have tried to broad frontal attack on all the sectors simultaneously. Regardless of the strategy implemented, LDC's have repeatedly run up against the same constraints: Low income levels lead to low levels of savings; low levels of savings contribute to lack of capital accumulation; a lack of capital accumulation contributes to low levels of productivity; and low productivity levels brings about low levels of income.21 And so the vicious cycle repeats itself. Because of this difficulty in raising needed resources internally, many LDC's have tried to find those resources externally. Reliance has been placed on exports, foreign aid, and foreign investments and loans. Unfortunately export markets for agricultural products tend to be relatively unstable, foreign aid often comes with strings attached and foreign investment carries with it debt service and political problems. In summation, economic develop- ment has been an elusive and fretted attempt for less developed countries. Thus, given the constraints mentioned above, one may wonder why, in a LDC where most of the citizens live more than ten miles from any kind of road, funds are being devoted to improving the dual carriageway linking the capital city with the airport. Or when the majority of the People carry every dr0p of water they need more than a mile from the 23 nearest stream, why scarce resources are devoted to providing piped supplies for tending the green lawns of luxury hotels. Or why scarce foreign exchange is expended on buying the latest jet aircraft from Europe and America when most people know airplanes only as vapor trails in the sky.22 When asked if LDC's should pursue a course of deve10pment, put in these terms, it stands to reason that most people would answer with a resounding no. Yet countries as different as Tanzania, The Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Botswana, Tunisia and Egypt are continually making decisions about national priorities which involve a positive answer to this question.23 Essentially, the interest of a less developed country in the promotion of tourism derives from the interrelatedness of foreign- exchange earnings and the balance of payments. Foreign-exchange refers - to the transfer of one national currency into another required to effect payment. Since the value of national currencies are regulated by differeing governments, the price of a unit of one national currency is exchanged for another in accordance with respective values. The balance of payments is a systematic record of all the economic transactions between one country and the rest of the world, normally reported on an annual basis. The balance-of-payments statement influences a government's determination of the value of its national currency, hence the exchange rate of the national currency. Most less developed countries are confronted with a shortage of foreign-exchange because of their over-dependence on agricultural economies (fluctuations of prices and instability of production), and consequently have difficulty financing their economic deve10pment. For 24 most less developed countries the export sector seems to be the engine of growth; therefore, an expansion of exports, like the promotion of tourism, increases foreign exchange and is generally given high priority as a contributory factor to improving the balance-of—payments situation. Conversely, there are those who doubt whether tourism confers any economic benefits at all, and who are convinced that it is socially very damaging. Cumulative causation theorists, such as Roaul Prebish, cast serious doubts on the capability of less deve10ped countries to achieve the economic take-off with the aid of tourism. Essentially the Prebish thesis focuses on the dependency cycle of most less developed countries because of inadequate foreign-exchange earnings. This inadequacy constitutes a severe constraint on economic growth rates in these countries, and in efforts to increase earnings of foreign exchange, the‘ ' periphery nation must accept more adverse terms of trade.24 Social critics of tourism expansion point to the various strains which are caused by its development in less developed countries, examples —_- being the distortion of indigenous cultural expressions, alienation of land, the perpetuation of racial inequalities and the erosion of dignity.25 Recently, the Greek Orthodox Church issued this prayer: Lord have mercy on the cities, the islands, and the villages of our Orthodox Fatherland, as well as on The Holy Monasteries, which are scourged by the worldly touristic wave. Grace us with the solution to this problem and protect our brethren who are sorely tried by the modernistic Spirit of the new Western invaders.26 25 E. Tourism Development and Dependency Networks Three or four years ago, a few people and organizations began look- ing more closely into what was happening in countries being "developed" with the help of mass tourism. They were a mixed group: individuals such as ecologists, economists, sociologists, writers and politicians; agencies such as the World Council of Churches, the Caribbean Travel Association, the United Nations, UNESCO; and governments in less develop- ed countries themselves. They didn't always like what they unearthed, and they said so. At a consultation in Nairobi in 1970, the African operators pointed out how little Spin-off there was for the host country: the beneficiaries of tourism, ~r they claimed, were chiefly investors, air-charter companies and foreign hotel owners, who shipped most of the profits to Europe. And two years later at the First World Congress on Air Transport and Tourism, Knut Hammarskjold, Director General of The International Air TranSport Association, was warning that 'the essential objective is not the easy head count and statistical victory, but the real contribution which tourism should make to the national economies of the countries involved,‘ and he quoted from an earlier report from The Association of African Airlines that 'very little revenue is left in Africa by the cheap charters.‘ The tickets are paid for in Europe, the hotels are mostly owned by Europeans and even the fuel used by the charters has to be imported with only a small bit of the revenue remaining in Africa.27 The apparent discrepancies between tourism as a "dream industry" and actual fact stem from two factors. Tourism is perceived as a viable development alternative by many LDC's. However, tourism is a product of traditional development theory, which is questionable, as far as explain- ing (in any causal terms) the situation in which less developed countries find themselves today, i.e., underdeveloped. Traditional development 26 theory emanated from Western scholars, and for the most part correSponds to Western institutional settings, and has not, so far, been concerned with the realities of underdevelopment. Therefore, if uncritically applied to these problems, the theories become inapplicable. This is clearly the situation as regards tourism. Tourism is a form of trade; it is an export. Thus utilizing the theory of trade, one assumes that trade starts a movement towards income equalization, while instead a quite normal result of unhampered trade between two countries, of which one is industrialized and the other underdeveloped, is the initiation of a cumulative process towards the impoverishment and 28 stagnation of the latter. Essentially these theories exclude from the analysis the institutional arrangements under which production and distribution take place.29 Secondly, the institutional arrangements in which tourism is being _W-- deve10ped in Africa are those of underdeveloped and structural dependence. The remainder of this chapter will be devoted to an analysis of these key concepts. The point of departure for this analysis will be discussion of what constitutes deve10pment, as perceived by this author. The necessity for this clarification stems from the varied interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives on development, which have generated ambiguity and confusion, further confounded by idological differences and variance in the level of analysis. The relevance of this undertaking is ultimately to see hour tourism affects this developmental process. Secondly, the concept of underdevelopment will be discussed in as much as it characterizes the present condition of African economies. Consideration will be given to historical relevance and mythical assumptions surrounding this phenomenon as both have been instrumental in shaping and reshaping 27 intellectual alignment on the subject of underdevelopment. Thirdly, the discussion will focus on structural dependence in Africa, which in the past, present and foreseeable future results in the development of under- development. By super-imposing tourism development on this discussion, it will be shown that it is part and parcel of an established pattern of structural dependence. 1. Selected PerSpectives on the Idea of Deve10pment "More often than not, the term development is perceived in an economic vacuum, the justification being that the type of economy is n30 itself an index of other social features. Thus, development is commonly defined, by such economists as Rostow, Myint, Herrod, and Domar, as a long-term sustained increase in real output per capita.31 This is essentially a carefully operationalized definition of the more general concepts of human productivity and change. For a given group (of people we must see an increase in the real output of their labor, sustained over time and measured in decades or generations. The strengths and weaknesses of this technique are the subject of an extensive literature.32 However, attention will only be called to those issues that give direction to this author's understanding of the process of development. Horowitz (Three Worlds of Development) writes that this approach to development generally asks the right questions, i.e., since deve10p- ment is a process of change, how is this change measurable? The difficulty is that it asks the right questions in a biased manner, with specific ends in view, irrespective of both the instrumentalities employed and/or any contravening variables.33 28 In apparent agreement with Horowitz, Pi-Sunyer and De Gregori (Economic Development: The Cultural Context) contend that economic growth must be viewed as a particular facet of a larger cultural transformation. Economics do not change in isolation from other patterned activities characteristic of a particular people, and in the majority of cases significant shifts in other areas of belief, behavior, or social organization will find a reflection in changed economic patterns . . . economic and tech- nological behavior is fully understandable only in terms of the total social and cultural context.34 The advantage of a quantitative measure of development is frequently pointed out by proponents of this view of development, such as Gayl D. Ness (The Sociology of Economic Development). According to Ness, any conceptualization of deve10pment which lacks this measurable dimension is at best insightful and suggestive but not testable.35 However, André Gunder Frank (Dependence and Underdeve10pment) refutes the notion that economic growth measured in annual increases of per capita national income or product is a good measure of deve10pment. "Growth without development is a frequent experience in the past and present of the now underdeveloped countries."36 The line of criticism calls for a distinction between growth and development. Growth is a term borrowed from biology and genetics implying an organic process of progressive change. In its economic context, it has come to be under— stood as an endogenously-produced quantitative, rather than qualitative, increase in physical output, or per capita income, of a society. On the other hand, development is consciously, deliberately stimulated growth. It implies the introduction of ex09enous directional decisions. However, there need be no contradiction between growth and deve10p— ment. The latter may accentuate or run parallel to the former, though of course the one may also restrain the progress of the other.37 29 (The validity of Frank's contention would require a discussion of under- development which will be taken up at a later point in this chapter). Real development, as defined by Frank, involves a structural transformation of the economy, society, polity and culture of a country that permits the self-generating and self-perpetuating use and develop- 38 At this juncture, one can see some ment of a people's potential. validity in Ness' preoccupation with measurability: Frank provides no explicit means for understanding how this structural transformation comes about. What is needed then is a definition of development that can account for change, which does not minimize the economic importance of this endeavor while taking into consideration those variables that account for the structural transformation of a society. Development, as defined by Rodney (How Europe Underdeve10ped Afrigg), meets these criteria. A society develops economically, accord- ing to Rodney, as its members increase jointly their capacity for dealing with the environment. This capacity for dealing with the environment is dependent on the extent to which they understand the laws of nature (science), on the extent to which they put that understanding into practice by devising tools (technology) and on the manner in which work is organized.39 What this definition should mean to less developed countries is that the problem of development is not exclusively one of technological or natural resources or exclusively one of human resources, but rather the interrelation and interpenetration of the two. 30 The more 'mature' a society becomes, the more it needs instruments for orderly change. Similarly, the greater the technological achievement, the more the social system is pressured to accommodate such achievements. Any prolonged and exaggerated imbalances between the social and technological sectors lead to stagnation, and the pressures for development are such that stagnation is intolerable over a sustained period of time.40 2. The Nature of Underdevelopment Definitively underdevelopment can be identified as the product of a prolonged and exaggerated imbalance between the social and technical sectors of a society; however, one is still faced with explaining the cause(s) of this condition. Earlier formulations on the causes of underdevelopment give rise to a number of erroneous assumptions that must be dispelled before a true appreciation of the concept is possible. Underdevelopment is not an original stage of history, through which the developed countries passed long ago (W. W. Rostow - The Take- Off Into Self Sustained Growth). Obviously, underdevelopment is not absence of deve10pment because every pe0ple have shown a capacity for independently increasing their ability to live a more satisfactory life through exploiting the resources of nature, which means, in effect, that every continent can point to a period of economic development.41 Thus, underdevelopment denotes stunted development, not absence of it. Secondly, as pointed out by Frank, neither the past nor the present of the underdevelOped countries resembles in any important respect the past of the now deve10ped countries. "The now developed countries were 42 Undevelop- never underdevelOped, though they may have been undeveloped." ed means that a country has not yet realized its potential for using more capital. labor or natural resources to effect the concomitant structural 31 transformation of the society. On the other hand, underdeveloped signifies that a society has developed but short of the aforementioned .. developmental process. Thirdly, underdevelopment of a country cannot be understood as a product or reflection solely of its own economic, political, social and cultural characteristics or structure (The Harrod-Domar Model, Hagen - How Economic Growth Begins, McClelland - The Achievement Motive in Economic Growth). The concept of underdevelopment, according to Rodney, makes sense only as a means of comparing levels of development whether one compares the economic conditions for the same country, at two different periods to determine whether or not it has developed, or whether one compares the economies of any two countries at any given period in time. But more importantly, the concept of underdevelopment is very much tied to \\\ the fact that human social deve10pment has been uneven and from a strictly economic viewpoint some human groups have advanced further by 43 producing more and becoming more wealthy. Furthermore, uneven develop- ment has always ensured that societies have come into contact when they were at different levels, and any prolonged and effective contact between two societies of different sorts will seriously affect the rate and character of change taking place in both, to the extent that entirely new patterns are created. Two general rules can be observed to apply in such cases: 1) the weaker of the two societies (i.e., the one with less economic capacity) is bound to be adversely affected and the bigger the gap between the two societies concerned the more detrimental are the consequences. 32 2) assuming that the weaker society does survive, then ultimately it can resume its own independent deve10pment if it proceeds to a level higher than thap4of the economy which had previously dominated it. An even more indespensable component of underdevelopment (as reflected in the current literature: Sos Santos - "The Structure of Dependence," Galtung - "A Structural Theory of Imperialism," O'Connor - "The Meaning of Economic Imperialism," Rodney - How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Frank - "The Development of Underdevelopment," Johnson — “Dependence and the International System," Brenner - Theories of Economic Development and Growth) is that it expresses a particular relationship of exploitation: namely, the exploitation of one country by another.45 It is instructive to discover what can be gleaned from history on this matter. It seems that in addition to man's exploitation of his natural environment in order to make a living, at a certain point in time, man also exploited man for this purpose. Then a stage was reached by which people in one community, called a nation, exploited the natural resources and the labor of another nation and its people. Since development deals with the comparative economics of nations, it is the last kind of exploitation that is of interest here i.e., the exploitation of nation by nation.’I6 One of the commonest means by which one nation exploits another and one that is relevant to Africa's past and present is exploitation -- through trade. The things which brought Africa into the capitalist market system were trade, colonial domination and now capitalist investment. (47) International trade, which has existed as far back as the late 15th century, drew Africa and Eur0pe into common relations for the first time; (48) colonial rule began in the 33 late 19th century and has almost disappeared; and the investment in the African economy has been increasing steadily in the present century. Throughout this period that Africa has participated in the capitalist economy, two factors have brought about underdevelopment. In the first place, the wealth created by african labor and from African resources were transferred to Europe; and in the second place restrictions were placed upon African capacity to make the maximum use of its economic 49 potential, which is what deve10pment is all about. With respect to Africa, one gets the notion, from Rodney, that a dialectical relationship exists between development and underdevelopment; that is to say, the two help reproduce each other by interaction. The contention here is that over four and a half centuries of continuous contact, Africa helped to develop Western Europe in the same pr0portion as Western Eur0pe helped to underdevelop Africa.50 Underdevelopment, as perceived by this author, signifies inequality (comparatively speaking) and while the nature or means (exploitation) of the inequality may change, the basic unequal relationship remains. Thus, African economies seem to be integrated into the very structure of the developed capitalist economies, and integrated in a “’72 manner that is unfavorable to Africa, ensuring that she is subordinately dependent on the capitalist world. This situation has been termed structural dependence in the current literature. 3. The Structure of Dependence "The concept of dependence, as it has been elaborated in recent ,years, refers to the situation that the history of colonialism has left arui that contemporary imperialism maintains in underdeveloped countries."5] 34 Theontonio Dos Santos has provided the clearest conceptualization of dependence. He suggests that dependence is not an external factor, as is often believed. Rather, dependence is a "conditioning situation“ in which the specific histories of development and underdevelopment transpire in different regions and countries. Dependence is a situation in which a certain group of countries have their economy conditioned by the develop- ment and expansion of another economy, to which the former is subject. The relation of interdependence between the two or more economies, and between these and world trade, assumes the form of dependence when some countries (the dominant) can expand and give impulse to their own development, while other countries (the dependent) can only develop as a reflection of this expansion which can have positive and/or negative effects on their immediate deve10pment.52 Dos Santos' construct of underdevelopment, in its structural framework, takes the form of three historical periods of dependence: 1) colonial dependence, trade export in nature, in which commercial and financial capital in alliance with the colonialist state dominated the economic relations of the Europeans and the colonies, by means of a trade monopoly complemented by a colonial monopoly of land, mines, and manpower (serf or slave) in the colonial countries.53 It should be pointed out that the early roots of economic underdevelop- ment in Africa date back to the slave trade, where European decision- making power was exercised in selecting what Africa would export in accordance with European needs.54 Thus, colonialism, in Africa, only represented in structural form those features that were already rooted in Afro-European relationships in the preceding period.55 2) financial-industrial dependence which consolidated itself at the end of the nineteenth century; characterized by the domination of big capital in the hegemonic centers, and its expansion abroad through investment in the production of raw materials and agricultural products for consump- tion in the hegemonic centers.56 35 The capitalist institution which came into the most direct contact with African peasants, during this period, was the colonial trading company: that is to say, a company specializing in moving goods to and from the colonies. The most notorious were the French concerns of Campagnie Francoise D'Afrique Occidentale (CFAO) and Societé Commerciale Ouest Africaine (SCOA) and the British-controlled United Africa Company (UAC).57 Under financial-industrial dependence a productive structure grew up in the dependent countries devoted to the export of products needed and dictated by Eur0pe.58 As rationalized by Brenner (Theories of Economic Development and Growth): Colonies were looked upon as part of the organic whole, part of the economic structure which united them with the mother country . . . therefore it appeared reasonable that development policies in the colonies were primarily, and often exclusively, directed towards the stimulation of those industries for which the countries seemed best suited. At the same time all unsuitable industries were discour- aged.59 As a consequence of colonial policy, the economic sector of most African countries, today, is overwhelmingly characterized by the pro- duction of agricultural products for the export market. The fact that” numerous African countries have one-crop economies only serves to exacerbate the situation as exemplified by Ghana's dependence on cocoa, Senegal and The Gambia on groundnuts, Dahomey on palm kernels, The Sudan (”1 cotton, Ethiopia on coffee and Somalia on bananas.60 3) In the postwar period a new type of dependence has been consolidated, based on multinational corporations which began to invest in industries geared to the internal market of underdeveloped countries. This form of dependence is basically technological- industrial dependence.5I 36 According to Rodney, the technological-industrial dependence in Africa actually grew out of colonial development and welfare policy geared towards developing African resources to offset postwar economic conditions that placed Europe in a disadvantaged situation vis-a-vis Russia and the United States.62 The so-called development funds for Africa went almost exclusively into the building of economic infrastructure and into the provision of certain social services. (63) The high proportion of the 'development' funds went into the colonies in the form of loans for ports, railways, electric power plants, water works, engineering workshops, warehouses, etc., which were necessary for more efficient exploitation in the long run. In the short run, such construction works provided outlets for European steel, concrete, electrical machinery and railroad industries, jobs for white expatriates and profitable outlets for bankers and financiers.54 It is with respect to this new form of dependence that tourism assumes immediate relevance to this discussion. At this juncture, one may question the utility of the dependency concept, since the world has now become an international community and no country is completely independent of others. The crucial issue here is whether this inter- ,2“ dependence is between equals or whether it is between unequals, as different ramifications will ensue reSpectively. Robert Erbes (Develop- ment Centre Consultant-DECO) states that international tourism has the effect of creating certain special relationships of dependence between countries generating (DC's) and receiving (LDC's) international tourists. The effect of these relationships is to make possible transfers of income -2. in favor of the generating countries.65 The remainder of this discussion will focus on these relationships. 37 4. The Mechanism of Dependence Through InternationEl Tourism The financing of imports depends increasingly on other sectors 66 of the economy such as invisibles. To be more precise, an increasing number of LDC's rely on their receipts from international tourism to maintain or deve10p their imports and their debt service payments. The parodox of this situation, as pointed out by Dos Santos, is that industrial development is dependent on the export sector for the '~-~ 67 foreign currency to buy inputs used by the industrial sector. With regard to tourism, this point is substantiated by Jursa and Winkates, who advise LDC's to be cognizant of the possibility of having to pull resources out of the agricultural and other industrial sectors in order to make the original investments in the tourist sector.68 The first consequence of this dependence is the need to preserve the traditional export sector, which limits economically the development of the international market by the conservation of backward relations of production. And in the countries where these sectors are controlled by foreign capital, it signifies the remittance abroad of high profits, the political dependence on these interests. It is important to re-emphasixe that the industrial development of these countries is still dependent on the situation of the export sector, the continued existence of which they are obliged to accept.69 Thus industrial development in LDC's is strongly conditioned by fluctuations in the balance of payments. This leads toward deficits due to the relations of dependence themselves. Dos Santos delineates three causes of this deficit: a) trade relations take place in a highly monopolized international market, which tends to lower the price of raw materials and to raise the prices of industrial products, particularly inputs. 38 b) for reasons already given, foreign capital retains control over the most dynamic sectors of the economy and repatriates a high volume of profit; consequently capital accounts are highly unfavor- able to dependent countries, i.e., the amount of capital leaving the country is much greater than the amount entering. To this must be added the deficit in certain services which are virtually under total foreign control, such as freight 70 transport, royalty payments, technical aid, etc. Because touristic deve10pment is capital intensive (contrary to popular belief), the availability of funds, expecially at the outset is critical.71 c) the result is that foreign 'financing' becomes necessary, in two forms: to cover the existing deficit and to finance development by means of loans for the stimulation of investments and to 'supply' an internal economic surplus, already decapitalized to a large extent by the remittance of part of the surplus generated domestically and sent abroad as profits. Thus foreign capital and foreign 'aid' fill up the whole that they them- selves created. In addition, overcharges and repayment in local currencies means that under- developed countries are really paying for all the aid they receive. Finally, industrial development is strongly conditioned by imperialist centers. Underdeveloped countries depend on the importation of machinery and raw materials for the development of their industries. However, these goods are not freely available in the international market; they are patented and usually belong to big companies which do not sell machinery and processed raw materials as simple merchandise. They demand either the payment of royalties for their utilization or, in most cases, they convert these goods into capital and introduce them in the form of their own investments.72 These factors oblige national governments of underdeveloped Countries to offer lucrative investment incentives. For instance, to 39 draw foreign capital for tourism promotion, countries such as Senegal, The Ivory Coast, Togo and Ghana have recently approved rather liberal investment codes with respect to tourism. Tax holiday, tax exemptions, repatriation of profits, the granting of government lands, discounted utility rates and the temporary exemption of all import duties are elements of these and other new investment codes.73 Thus tourism, when viewed from the perspective of structural dependence, emerges as a continuum of a larger historical dependency network thatensnares the less developed world and frustrates attempts to redress the situation. At the beginning of this section, attention was drawn to the key concepts of underdevelopment and structural dependence as the institution- al arrangements in which tourism is being developed in Africa. To dis— tinguish how these economic states differed from development, it was first necessary to define this term, i.e., the joint capacity of a society to deal with the environment. From this, underdevelopment was defined as a prolonged and exaggerated imbalance between the social and technical sectors of a society. And structural dependence, the condi- tioning of the economies of certain countries, by the development and expansion of another economy, to which the former is subject, was identified as the underlying cause for underdevelopment. It can be reasoned that underdevelopment and structural dependence have historically acted as constraints on the development process, and any development alternative, such as tourism, that does not affect a significant break with the past is destined to expand upon this dependency network. 40 The validity of these concepts and ideas will be subjected to empirical reality by discerning the extent to which they are applicable to the case study of The Gambia, Part II of this work. 41 FOOTNOTES: CHAPTER 2 1J. G. Bridge, “A Short History of Tourism," Travel and Tourism Encyclopaedia (London:‘ Travel World, 1969), p. 28. 2 Ibid., p. 29. 3Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Tourism Development and Economic Growth, Estoril Portugal, May 8th-l4th, I966, Chapter 2, p. l. 4K. Krapf, "Tourism as a Factor in Economic Development: Role and Importance of International Tourism," United Nations Conference on International Travel and Tourism, Item (10a) of the Provisional Agenda, UNECOSOC, July 1963, p. 2. 5 6 IUOTO, "Nature and Significance of Tourism," p. 2. Ibid., p. l. 7"The Role of Tourism in Economic Development - Is It a Benefit or a Burden?“ International Tourism Quarterly, No. 2, 1973, p. 55. 8United Nations, Elements of Tourism Policy in Developing Countries (Geneva, Switzerland, 1973), TD/B/C.3/89/Rov. l, p. 5 9IUOTO, "Nature and Significance of Tourism," p. l. 10Jafar Jafari, Role of Tourism on Socio-Economic Transformation of Developing Countries, Thesis, Cbrnell University, May 1973, pp. 29'and 31. n"TOwards a New Age of Leisure,“ World Travel, Vol. 108, September 1972, p. 27. 12Patrick Rivers, "Unwrapping the Africa Tourist Package," Africa Report, March-April, 1974, p. 12. 13Robert Erbes, International Tourism and the Economy of Developing Countries (Paris: OECD Development Centre Publication, June 1973), p.71. 14"The Role of Tourism in Economic Development - Is It a Benefit or a Burden?“ International Tourism Quarterly, No. 2, 1972, p. 55. ‘5United Nations, Conference on International Trade and Tourism, Rome, 1963. 42 16Nagendra Singh, Achievements of Unctad-I (1964) and Unctad-II (1968) in the Field of Shipping and InvisibTes, pp. 42:43. 17"The Role of Tourism in Economic Development - Is It a Benefit or a Burden?" International Tourism Quarterly, No. 2, 1972, p. 56. ‘8Somerset Waters, “The World Travel Explosion - Some Problems Plus Vast Opportunities,“ 1968, p. 4. l9 20Allistair Hill, "Tourism Explosion Confounds the Experts," African Development, October 1971, p. 69. 2lPaul Jursa and James Winkates, “Tourism as a Node of Develop- ment," Issue, Vol. IV, No. 1, Spring 1974, p. 45. 22Anthony Hughes, "Does Africa Want Tourism," Africa, An Inter- national Business, Economic and Political Monthly, No. 22, June I973, p. 28. 23 Ibid., p. 4. Ibid., p. 28. 24H. Peter Gray, International Travel - International Trade (Lexington: Health Lexington Books, 1970), p. 132. 25John M. Bryden, Tourism and Deve10pment (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1973), p.71} 26James L. Hamilton III, "Tourism: Private Benefits vs. Public Cost," Cornell HRA Quarterly, November 1972, p. 61. 27Patrick Rivers, "Unwrapping the Africa Tourist Package," Africa Report, March-April, 1974, p. 12. 28Gunnar Myrdal, Economic Theory_and Under-Developed Regions (London: Gerald Duckworth 8 Co., LTD., 1957), p. 99. 29Gayl D. Ness, The Sociology of Economic Development (New York: Harper & Row, 1970), p. 126. 30Walter Rodney, How Europe UnderdevelOped Africa (London: Bogle- Louverture - Dar es Salaam: Tanzania PublTshingHouse,l972), p. 10 31 32 Ness, op. cit., p. 3. Ibid., p. 3. 43 33Irving Lewis Horowitz, Three Worlds of Deve10pment (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972), p. 46. 34Thomas R. De Gregori and Oriol Pi-Sunyer, Economic Development: The Cultural Context (New York: John Wiley & Son, Inc., 1969), p. 23. 35Gayl D. Ness, The Sociology of Economic Deve10pment (New York: Harper 8 Row, 1970), p. x. 36James D. Cockcroft, Andre Gunder Frank & Dale L. Johnson, Dependence and Underdevelppment (Garden City: Doubleday & Co., 1972), p. xv. 37Y. S. Brenner, Theories of Economic Development and Growth (London: George Allen & Unwin LTD., 1966), p. 2231 38 Cockcroft, Frank & Johnson, op. cit., p. xvi. 39Walter Rodney, How Europe UnderdevelOped Africa (London: Bogle- L'Ouverture - Dar es Salaam: Tanzania Publlshing House, 1972), p. 10 40Irving Lewis Horowitz, Three Worlds of Development (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972), p. 62. 41 42Andre Gunder Frank, “The Development of Underdevelopment," De endence and Underdevelopment (Garden City: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 19721, P- 3- 43 44 Rodney, op. cit., p. 11. Rodney, op. cit., p. 21. Ibid., p. 18. 4516id.. pp. 21-22. 46Ibid.. pp. 30-31. Ibid., p. 34. Ibid., p. 85. Ibid., p. 34. Ibid., p. 85. 5IDale L. Johnson, "Dependence and the International System, Dependence and Underdevelopment (Garden City: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1972), p. 71. 52Ibid., p. 71. 44 53Theotonio Dos Santos, ”The Structure of Dependence," American Economic Review, Vol. LX, May 1970, p. 232. 54Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London: Bogle- L'Ouverture - Dar es Salaam: *TEnzafiia Publishing House, 1972), p. 87. 55 Ibid., p. 156. 56Theotonio Dos Santos, “The Structure of Dependence," American Economic Review, Vol. LX, May 1970, p. 232. 57 Rodney, op. cit., p. 169. 58Dos Santos, op. cit., p. 232. 59V. S. Brenner, Theories of Economic Development and Growth (London: George Allen & UnWTn Ltd., 1966), ppT7251-252. 60John N. Paden and Edward W. Soja, The African Experience (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, I970), Vol. I, p. 499. 6ITheotonio Dos Santos, “The Structure of Dependence," American Economic Review, Vol. LX, May 1970, p. 232. 62Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London: Bogle L'Ouverture - Dare es Salaam: Tanzania PublishingTOUSe, 1972), p. 233. 63 Ibid., p. 233. 64Ibid., p. 234. 65Robert Erbes, International Tourism and the Economy of Develop- ing_Countries (Paris: OECD Development Centre Publication, June 1973), p. 92. 66 Ibid., p. 92. 67Theotonio Dos Santos, “The Structure of Dependence,“ American Economic Review, Vol. LX, May 1970, p. 232. 68Paul Jursa and James Winkates, "Tourism as a Mode of Develop- ment,“ Issue, Vol. IV, No. 1, Spring 1974, p. 45. 69 70 Dos Santos, op. cit., p. 233. Ibid., p. 233. 45 7IPaul Jursa and James Winkates, "Tourism as a Mode of Develop- ment," Issue, Vol. IV, No. 1, Spring 1974, p. 45. 72Dos Santos, op. cit., pp. 233-234. 73Jursa and Winkates, op. cit., p. 45. CHAPTER III PART II: CASE STUDY OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE GAMBIA The Gambia and the Structure of Tourism If tourism cannot be considered outside of the contextual frame- work of the international economic system, neither can tourism, in The Gambia, be considered without some attention being given to this particular environment. It has been necessary to go into some historical depth to explain the geopolitical and economic make-up of The Gambia, which in turn makes comprehensible the choice of tourism as one deve10p- ment alternative. In keeping with the need to understand the institutional arrange- ments in which tourism deve10pment takes place, there are certain supply and demand factors that must be taken into consideration. This chapter draws attention to these factors as they relate specifically to The Gambia, as well as to the tourist industry in general. A. Backgpound to The Gambia The Gambia was once part of the great empires to the East.1 During the 5th to the 8th centuries A.D. most of Senegambia was part of the empire of Ghana, whose rulers were of the Serahuli tribe. The Ghana empire was gradually superseded by the Kingdom of the Songhais, whose rulers were also Serahuli. They became Moslems and vigorously promoted Islam.2 46 47 About the 13th century A.D., tribes of Mandingoes and Susus from Guinea established themselves in what is now Mali and assumed overlordship of The Gambia, which was then mainly inhabited by Wolofs. The Mali empire declined after 1580 A.D.3 Today, there are five distinct major peoples inhabiting The Gambia. They are the Wolof, Mandingo, Fula, Jola and Serahuli. The largest ethnic group in the country are the Mandingoes. Fula's and Wolofs are about equal in number, with the Wolof community predominat- ing in Banjul (formerly Bathurst). These are followed by Jolos and the Serahuli in relative size.4 Gambians are a diverse people, speaking different languages and having different cultural and historical back~ grounds. However, Islam has had an overriding influence on Gambians as a whole; 85 to 90 percent of the population are devout Muslims.5 The labor force in The Gambia is related to the population through a complex of social, demographic and economic factors. The population of working age is normally defined as the age group 15 to 64, but there is some argument for using 10 to 15 plus as this group may provide a significant proportion of the labor force in LDC's.6 Table Six shows that The Gambia had a total population of 494,294 in 1973 which was thirty-three percent higher than the 1963 census.7 Forty percent of the population is under the age of fifteen. M". This rapid population growth rate and consequent age structure of the p0pu1ation could mean a relatively small to moderate population of working age.8 As is common elsewhere, the participation rates of women are lower (”T' than for men in the industrial sector. 0f the 8,000 wage earning 48 TABLE SIX 1973 Census of The Gambia: P0pulation by Age Group Age Group No. in Pop. Percent of Pop. 0-4 83,191 16% 5-14 121,777 25% 15-49 232,744 47% 50+ Years 53,749 11% Not Stated 1,751) Persons in O 1% Hotels & Ships 1,082) -- Total P0pu1ation: 494,294 100% Source: Africa Contemporary Record, l973/74, p. B-64l. 49 employees in 1971, only 655 were women.9 However, it is believed that the tourist industry has altered these figures in recent years.10 For the economically active population as a whole (1969) the structure of employment in The Gambia is shown in Table Seven. As is indicated in Table seven, most of the adult working popula- tion is engaged in farming. The ILO Report indicated that the structure of the economy (rural based) and employment (agriculturally based) would probably remain the same for a considerable time to come.H Government is by far the largest employee of wage and salaried ~“’* employees in The Gambia.12 Tourism is expected to become a close second. Ninety percent of all Gambians are illiterate, obviously lacking formal training in vocational skills.13 Consequently, there is a surplus of unskilled labor and a lack of high-level manpower.14 The Gambia has existed as a sovereign state for almost a decade, gaining independence from Britian, its former colonial ruler, on February 18, 1965. The president-elect has remained Sir Dawda Jawara, a Mandingo and former veterinary surgeon. The president and vice-president are elected for five-year terms; the cabinet is appointed by the president and the legislature is a unicameral parliament composed of thirty-seven representatives. Politics in The Gambia is a low-keyed affair. There has never been a political coup and The Gambia has one of the few remaining civilian and multiparty governments in West Africa. The three parties sitting in parliament are the progressive People's Party (the president's party), the Opposition United Party, and the People's Progressive Alliance.‘5 50 TABLE SEVEN Total Estimated Employment in The Gambia - 1969 Category No. in Pop. Wage and Salaried Employees 16,000 Self Employed: 1 Farm Families 61,100 2 Merchants 9,300 3 Oysterers and Fishermen 1,500 Total Working Population 87,900 Total Population (estimate) 359,000 Sources: ILO Report (Manpower Assessment and Planning). 1969. Third Development Programme l97l-72 - l973/74. 51 Since independence the question of whether economic viability will ever come about remains a debatable issue. The nature of The Gambia's viability problem is essentially twofold; it is first a function of its size and location, but more importantly it relates to a tradi- tional unhealthy over-dependence of The Gambia on a one-crop economy. It is truly surprising that The Gambia exists at all. It is possible to overlook it entirely on a map. Essentially it is the valley of the naviagable Gambia River, a long thin ribbon of land, two miles wide at its narrowest point and thirty miles at its widest point, extend- ing eastward on either side of The Gambia River for 292 miles. In most Figure 1 Profile of The Gambia places the country is about fifteen miles wide.16 In terms of size, arable land and population. The Gambia fits well into Demas' definition of a small country by a considerable margin, i.e., a country with less than five million people and 10,000 to 20,000 square 51a «ngwfifi mummy \H 59.454 .28 83.6.1.9.“ Ste «0:2 8 on o. o n o. 3.2 (H (¢ _0(u it... n; nausea, auto“. any... )“NNWNF \ 3.9%. a"? ll» .. a 2.50 4.15”“. a . we: «I a <22 4.4...» a o 4.1.5.4591 . to??? 4 on: i... a. I? E 4648.... ... .. .56 as“? 0‘. .- JAN“ 08:. 8 on. _ I/nk snuoflmfimmttmwu. m a: <9 zaooézfi .w “30:6 x... . 88m — 432.5230“ a to.- f ..u..\ w z a a ”:82!- 22.8.0.3...» . 2:...sz- \t\\\ .1... a .. . ..- - usages . in...“ a???» .3 .3. . 3. av an my“. 0.. on. n... . ta. ‘ aflgflvv . .w - $.kuhflo. fix“... Jena... .0.— uzuxum use... . km: .5... w. :9. s . .t .2233 32.3. . ,..._.......m....... a < :6 . xx: 0 . W53 «.3th $.34}. 0 E9330: 7 ’ MM (to-(a . 3&6 .mh were. a... an 26:. .5... .............. .. vow; m 23.8 at on‘ was-nus. ‘s 5503. (O *6” >>>>> 335333 Approx. Price Per Ton (E) Harry A. Gailey, A History of The Gambia (New York: 1965), p. 161. The Gambia's Third Development Plan, pp. 2-3. West Africa, September 1974, p. 1158. Praeger, 60 for example, teem with marketable fish. Douglas Botting notes that before 1971 only solitary elderly Gambian fishermen attempted to capitalize on this venture while Russia and Japan extracted the bulk of the wealth.56 However, in 1971, two modern industrial fish-processing plants with a combined capacity of 670 tons annually were commissioned by the Gambian government. In 1972, The Gambia exported 116 tons of fish and shrimp valued at 0119,607 and further expansion is expected.57 Similarly, there are 230,000 head of cattle in The Gambia and the number is increasing. These could provide important exports, but cattle owners refuse to sell, because of the traditional prestige value of cattle. As of 1969 more than half the cattle slaughtered in the Banjul (formerly Bathurst) abattoir are imported from Senegal.58 Cotton could be a more important crop than it is at present but The Gambia has only one rainy season and cotton and groundnuts compete 59 In 1972, cotton seed production reached 94,000 pounds from for labor. 200 acres and after increasing from 312,140 pounds in 1972—73 to 600,000 pounds in 1973-74 production of seed cotton is expected to reach 8,000,000 pounds during the year 1977-78, dependent on whether financial backing will be forthcoming from the African Development Bank.60 Limes grow well in The Gambia. They are free from disease and in quality are as good as West Indian limes. But a complex system of land tenure, scattered holdings and an increasing local demand on land would make it difficult for a big company to invest in 1arge~sca1e p1antations.6] Only in the case of rice production has The Gambia made substantial * 62 gains in diversifying her agricultural crops. Under the joint Gambia- Taiwan Rice Project, the area under irrigated rice production has increased 61 sharply to over 3,000 acres, nearly 1,500 more than was anticipated, yielding 40,000 tons of paddy in 1971/72.63 Presently, two-thirds of all the country's rice requirements are now grown internally. A substantial improvement but £500,000 a year is still spent on importing rice.64 A lorry driver who earns perhaps E14 per month has to spend nearly half of this on buying rice for his family.65 A planned World Bank project is expected to add 3,000 acres within three years to bring The Gambia close to self-sufficiency in rice production.66 Despite a number of new ventures in The Gambia, there is comparatively little industry. The difficulty in any manufacturing project is that The Gambia provides a very small domestic market. As other African states have found, there is not a great choice of available small-scale plant, and even the smallest machinery can be capable of producing far too much for their modest domestic needs.67 The government would obviously welcome new industrial enterprises for two reasons: they would either produce import substitutes or earn foreign exchange for exports, and they would help to absorb the growing number of unemployed.68 There has been no lack of examination of prospects for industry in The Gambia. In the 1972/73 budget speech it was announced that soap manufacture and tire retreading were being considered. Investigation into the feasibility of mango and tomato juice and tomato puree production has begun. Advice is being sought on the exploitability of the ilmenite and kaolimite clay deposits in The Gambia, although they are probably too small and of too low quality for large-scale commercial exploitation. Seismic surveys by the Aracca Petrolium Exploration Company on an off- . . . 69 shore conce5510n have re-kindled hopes of 011 resources. 62 What has recently become a new source of income for the country is 70 Tourism is described as 71 a mass winter migration of Swedish tourists. being Gambia's most important and rapidly expanding industry, hardly existing at the time of independence in 1965.72 While many feel that union with Senegal is an inevitability, for The Gambia, the fact remains that it has been independent for nearly a decade. In addition, it has managed a satisfactory economic performance, mainly due to increases in prices and production of groundnuts in recent years, as well as Gambia's efforts and achievements in diversifying its economy.73 8. The Gambia as a Tourist Destination The following discussion provides a background to the evolution of tourism in The Gambia. Important determinants of this evolution are the number of people who come, their reasons for coming, where they come from, the mode of transport, average length of stay, seasonality of travel and how much money they spend. 1. Tourist Arrivals to The Gambia One measure of growth in a tourist industry is the growth in tourist arrivals to a particular tourist destination. Table Nine shows the growth of tourist arrivals to The Gambia since 1964. These figures represent a very steady and rapid increase in tourist arrivals over the last ten years with an expansion rate of about 100 per- 74 the fastest growth rate in West Africa. cent per annum, Taking the 1970/71 base year as an example, it can be seen from Table Ten that The Gambia far surpassed neighboring countries in percent 63 TABLE NINE Number of Tourist Arrivals to The Gambia (1964 - 1974) Year Tourist Arrivals 1964 Under 200 1965 450 1966 300 1967 723 1968 700 1969 1,000 1970 2,500 1971/72 8,000 1972/73 16,000 1973/74 24,000 Sources: Africa, An International Business Economic and Political Monthly, August 1972, No. 12, p. 85, July 1974, No. 35, p. 60. Africa Contemporary Record, 1972/73, p. 589. Susan Blumenthal, Bright Continent: A Shoe-string Guide to Sub-Saharan Africa (Garden City: Doubleday, 1974), p.‘65. New York Times, January 31, 1972. Quarterly Economic Review of Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, ETberia. Peter Schwab, "Tourism in Gambia's Development Plans," African Deve10pment, March 1971, p. 16. The Gambia Echo, May 16, 1968, April 14, 1969, June 25, 1971. "Tourism in Africa," U.N. Economic Commission on Africa, May 7, 1972, E/CN .14/TRANS/54. "Tourism in The Gambia," A Report Prepared for the Government of Gambia by Comprehensive Planning Associates, 1972. West Africa. 64 TABLE TEN Number of Tourists to West Africa (1970 — l97l) Source: UN-ECA Tourism in Africa, Annual Bulletin 1972 E/CN.14?TRANS/ 94, March 5, 1973. Country 1970 1971 Percent Increase Dahomey 11,000 11,000 0 Equatorial Guinea N.A. N.A. N.A. GAMBIA 2,300 7,000 204 Ghana 35,000 35,000 —0_' Guinea N.A. N.A. N.A. Ivory Coast 44,826 48,820 9 Liberia N.A. N.A. N.A. Mali 6,908 7,000 0 Mauritania 19,700 16,900 -17 Niger 1,500 1,500 0 Nigeria 25,000 40,000 60 Senegal 51,000 75,000 47 Sierra Leone 12,000 12,000 0 Togo 15,000 16,000 7 Upper Volta 4,031 6,369 47 65 increases in tourist arrivals. Estimates for tourist arrivals to The Gambia by year 1980 run as 75 high as 250,000. However, the oil crisis and general inflation in European countries are factors that have adversely affected tourist 76 arrivals to The Gambia in recent years. In 1973, difficulties were experienced in marketing The Gambia and the season ended earlier than scheduled. Hotel-occupancy rates during the peak tourist season of 1974 declined from a range of eighty-two to ninety-nine percent in January to a range of thirty-four to seventy-seven percent in February. In light of these unexpected developments, estimates concerning the growth rate of tourist arrivals has been put at 15 percent over the next five years.77 The average length of stay in The Gambia ifEfgurteen days and tourists are estimated to Spend twenty-five pound: each during their stay.78 2. Cruise-Ship Visitors Cruise-ship visitors are the only other significant category of visitors to The Gambia. However, economically Speaking, they do not provide much revenue to The Gambia, as the average length of stay is less than twenty-four hours resulting in non-utilization of shore accommoda- tions. In 1969 two cruise ships made weekly arrivals from Las Palmas 79 (The Canary Islands), one German and one Yugoslavian. By 1970, cruise ships arrived in The Gambia on a day-to-day basis and brought in 3,000 80 passengers in that year. In 1972, four cruise ships were servicing The Gambia, the additional two chartered by Vingressor, a Swedish travel agency.81 The Gambian government expected a total of twenty-seven cruise 66 ships to call at Banjul during the 1973/74 tourist season carrying 8,000 passengers.82 A survey carried out by the British Research Services in 1968 estimated that day excursionists spend on the average about two pounds each in The Gambia.83 3. Sources of Visitors to The Gambia While The Ivory Coast, with its Club Mediterranee and Riviera, appeals to the French jet setter, Ghana and Nigeria, with tangible evidences of rich history, are Meccas for Afro-Americans, and Togo and the Cameroon are still over-run by former colonizing Germans, The Gambia has become a haven for Swedish Scandinavians.84 The first thing that impresses the newcomer to the Nordic concern with West Africa is the length as well as the strength of that connection.85 It would be far-fetched to suppose that the Swedes, like the Germans, have a "social-romantic enthusiasm" for Africa based on past glories, or a colonial history that could somehow be revived through African manifesta- tions of friendship.86 Sweden's unprofitable and fleeting experience as a colonial power in Africa in the seventeenth century does not encourage a neocolonial role, or even an archcolonial one. However, the Swedes were colonists for a time.87 The Swedish Africa Company, under a Dutch director, established a colony at Cabo Corso in what is now Ghana in 1649. Sometime later, during the seventeenth century, Denmark seized the trading post and war broke 67 out between the two countries. In the end, the colony became a Dutch settlement and Sweden's colonial aspirations in Africa began to fade. Thereafter Sweden's interests in the continent remained either scientific or religious until the twentieth century.88 The latest connection between Sweden and West Africa is tourism in The Gambia. It started as the private enterprise of local Banjul hoteliers, Joseph and Robert Madi. They built the Gambia's first hotel, The Atlantic, in the early nineteen-fifties and soon after independence in 1965, interested Vingressor, a gaint among Swedish travel agencies, in The Gambia's endless beaches, only two hours' flight from the main 89 "colony" of The Vingressor empire, the Canary Islands. Hence, over the past ten years, The Gambia has gradually been moving into competi- tion with the Canary Islands for the Swedish market.90 Although it is cheaper to go to the Canary Islands (two weeks - $190.00 round-trip with three meals) than to The Gambia (two weeks - $300.00 round-trip breakfast and dinner), the Swedes who choose the latter think of themselves as pioneers and say that the Canary Islands have become a Scandinavian Miami Beach, with 20,000 tourists a day.91 It should be noted that The Gambia is still relatively cheap when compared with other tourist destinations in West Africa. The Swedes who come to The Gambia tend to be middle-aged middle- class office workers who come for the waters.92 The beaches of The Gambia are considered safer for swimming than the average West African beach, especially those in the estuary of The Gambia River. And during the height of the Eur0pean winter, November to April, The Gambia enjoys sunny weather with temperatures around 70°F, no rainfall and low humidity.93 68 Another factor that has some bearing on the attraction of The Gambia to Scandinavian tourists is the fact that it is the closest English-speaking country to Europe in West Africa and seventy-five percent of Scandinavians speak English.94 Three other attractions of The Gambia worth mentioning are its close proximity to West Africa's 95 finest game reserve, Niokoiokoba, in Senegal; the Abuko Nature 96 Reserve registering over 400 species of birds; and ocean and river fishing in one of the world's richest sea areas in terms of fish variety.97 Tourism in The Gambia began with the Swedes and to date largely remains 50.98 However, it is expected that the rationalisties of tourist arrivals will eventually demonstrate a greater spread than the current predominate Scandinavian input.99 Already noticeable is a small influx of German, British and American tourists on holiday in The 100 Gambia. By the 1976-77 season the following breakdown of tourists visiting The Gambia might be expected: TABLE ELEVEN Sources of Visitors by Declared Residence (1976/77) Country Percent of Total United Kingdom 30% West Germany 25% Scandinavia 25% France 10% Other (including W. Afr. Seaboard) 10% Total 100% Source: Comprehensive Planners Associates, Tourism in The Gambia, a Report Prepared for The Gambian Government, 1972. 69 Characteristically speaking, the vast majority of Swedish visitors to The Gambia are what H. Peter Gray terms "sunlust" as opposed to "wanderlust" tourists. The main differences between the two types of travelers can be seen from the comparative listing of their attributes in Table twelve. TABLE TWELVE Characteristics of Sunlust and Wanderlust Tourists Sunlust Resort vaction, business; one country visited; travelers seek domestic amenities and accommo- dations; special natural attri- butes a necessity, especially climate; travel a minor consider- ation after arrival at destina- tion; either relaxing and rest- ful or sportive; relatively more domestic travel. Source: H. Peter Gray International Wanderlust Tourist, business; probably multi- country travelers; seek different cultures, institutions and cuisine; special physical attributes likely to be man-made; climate less im— portant; travel an important in- gredient throughout visit; neither restful nor sportive; obstensibly educational; relatively more in- ternational travel. Travel International Trade. Lexington: HeéthTLexington Books, 1970, p. 14. The holiday sunlust visitor, furthermore, tends to expect a first- class luxury-type accommodation, a European cuisine, many amenities and substantial comfort. Few African countries possess hotels of this nature and where they do exist, the cost is prohibitive, for all but the wealthy. Coupled with distance as a deterring factor, few sunlust tourists will be likely to venture farther than the North African coast unless special package or group rates become available. 101 70 4. Seasonality in Gambian Tourism With few exceptions, tourism is characterized by a seasonal rhythm ’” which creates economic difficulties and organizational problems for all tourist undertakings.]02 The dependence of Gambian tourism on weather and climatic conditions is reflected in quite marked seasonal fluctuations of tourist activity. The rainy season in The Gambia coincides with the summer tourist months of Northern Eur0pe, and tourists can obtain first- class conditions much more cleaply nearer home at this time)03 "Thus, seasonality implies an incomplete and unbalanced utilization "104 Recent statistics for of the means at the disposal of the economy. The Gambia show irregular movements in the number of foreign-visitor arrivals and hotel-occupancy rates (two other commonly used measures of demand characteristics) with clearly marked peaks and troughs, correspond- ing to the dry and rainy seasons, respectively, in The Gambia. (See Table Thirteen). A recent article by Paul Jursa and James Winkates, on "Tourism as a Node of Development," suggests that the heavy rainy season in West Africa, would almost require an eighty to ninety percent occupancy rate in the dry season to permit a reasonably profitable year. Thus, The Gambia, even in the tourist year 1976/77 will still be underutilizing hotel tourist plant. Furthermore, the low year-round maximum occupancy rate of forty-three percent predicates a strict requirement for low-capital-cost accommodations and other facilities.105 An examination of hotel construction and size will be dealt with at a later point in this chapter. The implications of this seasonal-demand 71 TABLE THIRTEEN Forecast Seasonal Distribution of Tourist Arrivals 1976/77 Hotel Climatic Percent of Occupancy Conaition Month TourTSt Arrivals Rates in lfie Gamfiia November 12 68% December 16 90% DRY SEASON January 14 79% Average February 13 73% Occupancy March 13 73% Rate of April 11 62% 74% May 6 34% June 4 23% RAINY SEASON July 2 11% Average August 2 11% Occupancy September 2 11% Rate of October 5 28% 20% Source: Report on Tourism in The Gambia, done by Comprehensive Planning Associates for The Gambian Government, p. 18. 72 factor in Gambian tourism have important economic and social consequences which will be discussed in Chapter IV. C. The Structure of Tourism One of the selling points of tourism to less developed countries is the fallacy that little more than the basic elements of sun, sand, sea or scenery, plus a readiness to accept foreign capital and expertise are 106 In reality, tourism needed to successfully develop this industry. requires certain basic elements, quite apart from the aforementioned, and conforms to certain principles, made operative by its structure, that also must be taken into consideration. Tourism components fall broadly into what is termed supply and demand factors. Demand is the subsequent consumption or use of the facilities at a destination. Supply refers to the necessary facilities to service demand such as transportation, accommodations, ancillary services and adequate infrastructure. The following discussion examines the supply and demand factors that characterize The Gambia's tourist industry. 1. Transportation Given the fact that demand for a tourist destination is, to a great extent, related to cost, transportation becomes an important variable, ..«— as it is generally the largest single item of tourist expenditure. Considering the distance between The Gambia and its major tourist market, EurOpe, airline policy, with particular reference to airfare, figures prominently in the demand for The Gambia as a tourist destination; 73 prohibitive travel costs will stop people from vacationing in the most idyllic of resorts. The complexities of air travel present a hybrid mixture of independent, national and charter lines, which subdivide into scheduled and non-scheduled flights, giving a many-sided picture to what is simply considered by a tourist as departing from one place and arriving in another. The administrative unit of the airline network is the International Air Traffic Association, which functions as the "U.N." of the air.‘07 I.A.T.A. determines the schedule of all airfares subject to the unanimous approval by all its members. A prerequisite for membership in I.A.T.A. is that a country have a national flag carrier, and those who do not, have no insurance against the possibility of discriminatory fares.]08 In general, regular airfares within Africa are higher than those within Europe and almost twice as high as internal fares in the United States. And international airfares between Europe and Africa and between North American and Africa are considerably higher than those between 109 What has apparently happened is that the Europe and North America. lack of demand for travel to Africa, prior to the 1960's, dicated higher “-~ airfares; however, few policy changes have taken place in accord with increased demand in recent years."0 One complication in the Gambian flying scene came with the revalua- tion of the Dalasi (the local currency). The change from five Dalasi to the pound sterling to four to the pound did not bring a cheaper flight on a British Caledonia plane, a fact lamented by travelers from Banjul to London, and a matter that the Gambian Government took up with I.A.T.A. 74 The organization's promise was for "sympathetic" consideration of the matter.]]] As a result of higher airfares on scheduled services to Africa, the situation has brought forward non-scheduled flights on planes owned 112 While it remains true that or chartered by the big tour operators. the cheaper airfares offered by charter flights enable people to travel to Africa who might not otherwise be able to, they still leave Africa handicapped by higher airfares. For example, the charter-flight-fare for the 6,317 km route from Zurich to New York costs $268 per person against $388.40 for the charter flight for the 6,034 km route from Zurich to Nairobi.113 Charter flights also have certain demand characteristics that have to be taken into consideration by the host country. A charter flight is a flight booked exclusively for the use of a Specific group of people who generally belong to the same organization or who are being treated to the flight by a single host and is not open for sale to the general 114 public. Charter planes must carry full passenger loads to be economical and therefore require large hotel capacity to accommodate full plane loads of tourists. Charter flights also necessitate a large travel market with a strong enough demand for travel as expensive as that to distant Africa."5 Thus charter flights do not encourage travel to places with small ——HL hotel capacity; they tend to be highly seasonal, attract the middle- income tourist market and block smaller travel agencies from the African market.H6 75 2. Accommodations Hotel accommodation is the second largest tourist expenditure, following transportation. In the last ten years The Gambia has gone from one hotel to more than fifteen, averaging about one and a half new hotels per year. This rapid increase in hotel construction was in response to the bed Shortage, resulting from the rapid increase in tourist arrivals to The Gambia as well as the need for larger-capacity hotels to accommodate charter flights bringing large numbers of tourists at one time. Until recently, most hotels were booked to capacity during the tourist season. Current setbacks in terms of demand suggest that supply at this point may outstrip demand."7 3. Ancillary Services Ancillary services refer to tourist consumer demand for items other than accommodation, such as restaurants not located in hotels, cafes, various types of excursions, night clubs, sports installations and shops handling products mainly intended for the tourist trade (souvenirs).]]8 The investment needed to install ancillary services is relatively small and is generally left entirely to individual initiative. But the Gambian government, on an equal partnership basis -~ with Vingressor, formed a private company in 1969, Wing Afric , Ltd., to provide for ancillary services in The Gambia. The rationale for this «4 move is contained in a 1970 press release concerning the matter: It should be noted that tourism is a very com- petitive world-wide industry and any country which wishes to make any headway in it must be prepared to provide services of an acceptable 76 TABLE FOURTEEN No. of Hotels and Hotel Beds Available in The Gambia 1964/74 Year No. of Hotels Hotel Beds Available 1964 1 76 1965 2 133 1966 N.A. 1967 3 to 6 N.A. 1968 N.A. 1969 N.A. 1970/71 7 N.A. 1971/72 - 400 1972/73 11 1,049 1973/74 13 1,509 Sources: Africa, An International Business, Economic and Political Monthly Quarterly Economic Review of Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia andTLiberia, No. 3, 1974. Le Messager - Special Issue on The Republic of The Gambia Standard Bank Review Tourism in The Gambia, A Report prepared by Comprehensive Planning Associated, London, 1972. 77 standard which the tourists have come to regard as normal. These services must, among other things, be efficient and dependable. The emergence of Wing Afric may therefore be regarded as a desirable improvement and reinforcement of the existing services. It is normal that services of such high standards are provided by individual citizens of a country. In the absence of such effort, govern- ment considers it right to step in on behalf of all Gambians.119 Since 1970, Wing Afric, Ltd. has acquired a virtual monopoly on transportation to and from Yundum Airport as well as excursions to tourist Sites. The company has also acquired a number of bicycles 120 which are available to tourists on a daily hire basis. In addition, Wing Afric is a travel agency, the only one in The Gambia. Its functions in this respect are producing publicity and advertising material, running a hotel booking service and planning excursion programs.]2] Outside of these ancillary services, provided by Wing Afric, 122 there are truly few other services of this nature in The Gambia. There is a numerical paucity of restaurants with a distinct Gambian setting, ‘23 There are fOur or five night clubs. 124 A serving traditional Gambian food. several open-air cinemas and dancing at several of the hotels. craftsman's market has been created and tourism has generally encouraged.h.e_ business at local curio shops.]25 On the other hand, the Swedes are not great Spenders or nightbirds, and it takes some urging to get them from the beaches during the day and 126 from retiring early at night. The tendency has been only to buy 127 inexpensive handicrafts, and night life in The Gambia is only mildly patronized as many Scandinavians and Englishmen content themselves with a beer and a stroll after dinner.128 78 4. Infrastructure The arrival of foreign visitors presupposes the existence of 129 and always airports, seaports, roads and other terminal facilities entails a sharp increase in total demand on public utility infrastructure. This involves developing the existing infrastructure and creating new infrastructure specifically to meet tourist demand.‘30 Infrastructual development at the time of Gambian independence can only be termed modest. Consequently, developing the tourist industry is going to involve considerable expansions. Major projects pending, as of the undertaking of this study, include the extension of electricity, water supplies and other services, road construction and important improve- ments to the Banjul Harbour and Yundum Airport.]31 5. Matching Supply with Demand: the Trend ETOwardsTIntegration The provision of ample tourist supply to meet anticipated demand poses certain problems. The difficulty stems from the fundamantal property differences of these two factors, when applied to the tourist industry. The demand for tourist goods and services is not considered constant, such as that for basics such as food. It is generally characterized by elasticity, i.e., subject to wide fluctuations in time and space. Elasticity of demand in the tourist industry is Shown not only -—- by its peculiar sensitivity to fluctuations in personal income and changes in the cost of tourist goods and services, but it is also painfully obvious during periods of economic and political crisis.]32 79 In recent years, countries like The Gambia, which have invested heavily in tourist plant, have been adversely affected by the present world-wide threat of recession and the oil crisis with attendant rises in airfare costs.”3 The law of substitution also applies to tourist demand for goods and services, which have to compete with the attraction of durable consumer goods (such as household appliances, television sets, jewelry, furs, cars, etc.) as well as other tourist destinations.”4 Exaggerated optimism, on the part of some economists, concerning the ability of tourist demand to expand indefinitely is very misleading. Tburism is an amenity, if not a luxury, resulting in extreme sensitivity 135 to changes in the world order. Thus, by its very nature tourism demand is and will presumably remain a highly volatile, even fad- oriented characteristic of tourism.‘36 On the other hand, supply in the tourist industry is essentially »—~~ rigid. Immobility in time and space and the impossibility of keeping stocks of tourist services are the causes of this inelasticity of supply. Tourist services are "manufactured," so to speak, at the moment of consumption. Therefore, they can hardly be kept in stock.]37 Most tourist activities consist of providing services or selling ‘38 Secondly, all tourist w» goods, such as local handicraft to consumers. activities are based on certain specialized installations which are generally costly (hotels, restaurants, transportation services) and cannot be moved in reSponse to a demand suddenly arising at some other ‘39 Consequently, no matter how small the number of tourists place. (which translates into utilization rate of hotels and transport services), the fixed costs (amortization, maintenance, interest on capital, etc.) 80 140 The existence of these fixed costs means that the remain constant. largest possible movement of tourists with a constant flow is most desirable. But in actual fact, a somewhat rigid supply is confronted with an elastic tourist demand and cannot adapt itself readily to demand f1uctuations.14] The trend towards vertical integration has, to some extent, created a more favorable balance between supply and demand factors. Vertical integration is mainly achieved through different types of medium - or long-term contracts associating the various branches into a package, through direct control by one branch over one or more of the 142 Figure Three gives a visual representation of this process. others. This trend towards vertical integration has turned the tourist industry into a business dominated by very large-scale holiday tour operators (HTO'S). They represent an extremely powerful commercial force in the hands of the tourist-generating country. Vingressor, for _w,r. example, runs its own extensive fleet of charter planes. Once arriving at such destinations as The Gambia, the tourists are lodged and enter- tained by the same company in its own hotels or those of its choosing in accordance with contract arranagements made a year or more in advance.]43 Less developed countries generally cannot effect integration-«z. because of the lack of control over supply and demand factors. The advantage of these combined arrangements are that a steady flow of tourist traffic can be expected along with greater utilization of tourist plant (hotels, infrastructure, ancillary services, etc.).]44 The disadvantage, however, is the increasing monopolistic control“ over their tourist industries by holiday tour operators. The combina- tion of the large-scale tour operator and transportation operator means 81 FIGURE 3 VERTICAL INTEGRATION CONSUMER PROMOTER \~. SALES CHANNELS TRANSPORTATION / ACCOMMODATION DESTINATION ACTIVITIES Source: Tburism,,Princip1es, Practices, Philosophies, Robert McIntosh, Ohio: Grid, Inc., 1972, p. 230. 82 that the foreign company is able to exert a tight control over demand.]i§~n_~ They are the ones who choose the places to be visited and the itineraries to be followed; can fill the means of transport and accommodation to capacity or leave them empty; impose standards and partly dictate prices, especially for accommodation in less deve10ped countries.]46 It may therefore be claimed that industrialized countries, through HTO'S, can "suggest“ the responses of the less developed receptor countries, if not actually dictate terms to them. In this manner, less developed receptor countries are increasingly reduced to the status of sub-contractors of the hotel tour operators in the industrialized countries.‘47 The starting point of this chapter was a background to the historical, ge0political, economic and social parameters of The Gambia. The picture that emerges from these considerations is one of underdevelop- ment and its concomitant, structural dependence. As a consequence, The Gambia was shown to have limited alternatives as well as resources for development. TOurism was introduced as its fastest growing industry and examined in some detail. Due regard was paid to the necessary require- ments of the tourist industry and certain of its structural aspects as both have important implications for the outcome of tourism development in The Gambia. The purpose of this chapter was to lay the foundation for the subsequent analysis of tourism's impact on Gambia's development, which is the concern of Chapter IV. 83 FOOTNOTES: CHAPTER III ISusan Blumenthal, Bright Continent: A Shoestring Guide to Sub- Saharan Africa (Garden City: TDoUble Day, 1974), p. 63. 2Eyre and Sporttiswood (ed.) The Gambia in Brief (Portsmouth: Grosvenor Press), p. 6. 3 4 58erke1ey Rice, Enter Gambia (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1967), p. xiv. 6John M. Bryden, Tourism and Development (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1973), p. 14} 7 8Third Development Programme, 1971/72 to 1973/74, Printed by The Gambian Government, Sessional Paper No. 2 of 1971, p. l. Ibid., p. 7. The Gambia (Bathurst: Government Press, 1964-1965), p. 17. Africa Contemporary Record, 1973/74, B-640. 9African Contemporary Record, 1973/74, B-640. 10 1]Third Development Programme, 1971/72 to 1973/74. Printed by The Gambian Gfivernment, SesSional Paper No. 2, 1971, p. 2. lzGambia For Visitors and Tourists (Banjul: Government Press, April 1964), p. 10. 13 14Third Development Programme, 1971/72 to 1973/74, Printed by The Gambian Government, Sessional Paper No. 2, 1971, p. 2. ISSusan Blumenthal, Bright Continent: A Shoestring Guide to Sub- Saharan Africa (Garden City: Doubleday,71974), p. 64. 16 Africa, South of The Sahara, 1974, p. 334. Ibid., p. B-640. The New York Times, November 7, 1970. R. J. Harrison-Church, “The Gambia-Physical and Social Geography," 84 17W. Demas, The Economics of Deve10pment in Small Countries (New York: McGill, 1965), p. 22. 18 lgCharles 0. Van der Plas, Rgport on a Socio-Economic Survey of Bathurst and Kombo St. Mary in The Gambia, United Nations Technical AssiStance Programme, TAA 173/118/02, TAA/GAM/l, February 7, 1956, p. 14. zoDouglaS Botting, "Dilemma of Africa's Smallest Nation," Geographical Magazine, June 1969, p. 659. ZABerkeley Rice, Enter Gambia (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1967), p. 118. 22 Harrison-Church, 0p. cit., p. 34. Botting, op. cit., p. 663. 23Rice, op. cit., p. xiii. 24 szusan Blumenthal, Bright Continent: A ShoestringgGuide to Sub- Saharan Africa (Garden City: TDoubleday, 1974), p.762} ) 26Harry A. Gailey, A History of The Gambia (New York: Praeger. 1965 . p. l. 27A. G. Hapkins, "The Gambia-Recent History," Africa, South of the Sahara, 1974, p. 334. 28 29$usan Blumenthal, Bright Continent: A Shoestring Guide to Sub- Saharan Africa (Garden City: ’DOubleday, 1974), p. 64. BoDouglas Botting, "Dilemma of Africa's Smallest Nation," Geographical Magazine, June 1969, p. 665. 3IDouglas Rimmer, “The Gambia - Economy," Africa, South of the Sahara, 1974, p. 336. 32 33susan Blumenthal, Bright Continent: A Shoestring Guide to Sub- Saharan Africa (Garden City: Doubleday, 1974), p.764. 34Douglas Rimmer, "The Gambia - Economy," Africa, South of the Sahara, 1974, p. 337. Botting, 0p. cit., p. 663. New York Times, November 7, 1970. Botting, op. cit., p. 666. 85 35 afiDouglas Botting, "Dilemma of Africa's Smallest Nation," Geographical Magazine, June 1969, p. 666. 37Peter Schwab, "The Gambia'a Relationship to the Senegambia Association,” Geneve-Afrique, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1970, p. 103. 38 39Harry A. Gailey, A History of The Gambia (New York: Praeger, 1965), pp. 165-166. 40 Ibid., p. 337. Botting, op. cit., p. 663. Ibid., p. 163. 41 423erkeley Rice, Enter Gambia (Boston: Houghton Miffin Company, 1967), p. 151. 43Douglas Botting, "Dilemma of Africa's Smallest Nation," Geographical Magazine, June 1969, p. 663. 44Harry A. Gailey, A History of The Gambia (New York: Praeger, 1965), p. 143. Ibid., p. 142. 1919:: p. 144. Ipig,, pp. 144-145. Ipig,, p. 145. Ibid., p. 151. Ibid., p. 157. Ibid., pp. 148-149. Ibid., pp. 158-159. Ibid., p. 158. Ibid., p. 161. Ibid., p. 163. ssDouglas Rimmer, "The Gambia - Economy," Africa, South of the Sahara, 1974, p. 336. SéDouglas Botting, "Dilemma of Africa's Smallest Nation," Geographical Magazine, June 1969, p. 66. 86 57"The Gambia - Tourism and Groundnut Exports," Afro-Asian Economic Review, January-February 1973, Nos. 160-161, p. 29. 58 59 Botting, op. cit., p. 663. Ibid., p. 663. 60"The Gambia - Tourism and Groundnut Exports,‘I Afro-Asian Economic Review, January-February 1973, Nos. 160-161, p. 29. 61 Botting, op. cit., p. 663. 62Ibid., p. 663. 63"The Gambia - Tourism and Groundnut Exports," Afro-Asian Economic Review, January-February 1973, Nos. 160-161, p. 29. 64 65 66"The Gambia - Tourism and Groundnut Exports," Afro-Asian Economic Review, January-February 1973, Nos. 160-161, p.29. Botting, op. cit., p. 663. Ibid., p. 663. 67”Gambia - The Industrial Scene," Africa, An International Business Economic and Political Monthly, January 1974, No. 29, p. 52. 681bid., p. 52. 69 Ibid., p. 52. 70Susan Blumenthal, Bright Continent: A Shoestring_§uide to Sub- Saharan Africa (Garden City: Doubleday,l974), p. 65. 7]"T0urism Risks," Africa An International Business Economic and Political Monthly, July 1974, No. 35, p. 60. 72 The New York Times, January 31, 1972, p. 50:1. 73Machet's Diary from Bathurst, West Africa, January 1973, p. 6. 74 75Susan Blumenthal, Bri ht Continent: A Shoestring Guide to Sub- Saharan Africa (Garden City: Doubleday, 1974), p. 65. 76 77 The Gambia News Bulletin, January 20, 1972, p. l. Standard Bank Review, May 1974, p. 14. The Gambia News Bulletin, April 26, 1973, p. l. 87 78 79 80 The Gambia News Bulletin, February 4, 1971, p. 1. Standard Bank Review, February 1969, p. 22. Standard Bank Review, June 1970, p. 19. B‘Standard Bank Review, November 1972, p. 14. 8zAfrica Contemporarprecord, l973/74, p. B-643. 83 84Susan Blumenthal, Bright Continent: A ShoestringGuide to Sub- Saharan Africa (Garden City: Doflbleday, 1974), p. 65. 85K. A. Greene, "Scandinavia and Africa: 1," West Africa, December 23-30, 1974, p. 1551. 86Martin Lowenkopf, "Sweden and Africa," Africa Report, October 1968, p. 60. 87Ibid., p. 60. 88 89 The Gambia News Bulletin, February 4, 1971, p. 1. Ibid., p. 60. Russell Warren Howe, "The Gambia," Travel, July 1970, p. 62. 90"Tourism Risks,“ Africa, An International Business Economic and Political Monthly, July 1974, No. 35, p. 60. 9ASusan Blumenthal, Bright Continent: A ShoestringGuide to Sub- Saharan Africa (Garden City: DOGbleday, 1974), pp.765-66. 92Paul E. Jursa and James E. Winkates, "Tourism as a Mode of Deve10pment,“ A paper presented at The Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, Syracuse, October 3lst-November 3rd, 1973, p. 7. 93"Tourism in The Gambia," A report prepared for the government of Gambia by Comprehensive Planning Associates, 1972, p. 6. 94"Vingressor," e Messager Special Issue on The Republic of The Gambia, p. 48. 95Phillip M. Allen and Aaron Segal, Traveler's Africa (New York: Hapkinson & Blake Publishers, 1973), p. 478. 96$usan Blumenthal, Bright Continent: A Shoestring Guide to Sub- Saharan Africa (Garden City: *Doubleday,*l974), p. 69. 97"Vingressor," Le Messaggr, Special Issue on The Republic of The Gambia, p. 48. 88 98"The Realities of Tourism,“ Africa, An International Business, Economic and POlitical M0nthly, October, 1971, p. 491 99"Tourism in The Gambia,“ A report prepared for the government of Gambia by Comprehensive Planning Associates, 1972, p. 19. 100"Tourism Risks," Africa, An International Business Economic and Political Monthly, July 1974, No. 35, p. 60. 10]Paul E. Jursa and James E. Winkates, "Tourism as a Mode of Development," A Paper presented at The Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, Syracuse, October Blst - November 3rd, 1973, p. 7. 102K. Krapf, "Tourism as a Factor in Economic Development: Role and Importance of International Tourism," United Nations Conference on International Travel and Tourism, Item 10(a) of The Provisional Agenda, UNECOSOC, July 1963, p. 15. 103"Tourism in The Gambia," A report prepared for the government of Gambia by Comprehensive Planning Associates, 1972, p. 18. 104Raymond Baron, "Special Article No. 6 - Seasonality in Tourism," Part II, International TOurism Quarterly, No. l, 1973, p. 53. 105 Comprehensive Planning Associates, op. cit., p. 18. losPatrick Rivers, "Unwrapping the Africa Tourist Package," Africa Report, March-April, 1974, p. 12. 107"Tourists Fly in-Africa Takes Off," African Development, April. 1969, p. 18. 108R. Peter Gray, International Travel-International Trade (Lexington: D. C. HealthECo., 1971), p. 160. IogUnited Nations Interregional Seminar on Tourism Development, United Nations Economic and Social Council, Report of the Secretary- General, (Forty-sixth session, Agenda Item 5), Berne Switzerland, October let-November 2nd, 1968), p. 64. noDiscussion Notes: Panel on Tourism, Annual Convention of The African Studies Association, Chicago, 111., October 30th - November 2nd, 1974. n“Gambia-New Look for Yundum," Africq, An International Business Economic and Political Monthly, No. 24, August 1973, p. 31.. 112United Nations Interregional Seminar on Tourism Development, United Nations Economic and Social Council, Report of The Secretary-General, (Forty-sixth session, Agenda Item 5), Berne Switzerland, October 215t- November 2nd, 1968), p. 65. 89 H31bid., p. 65. H4Robert McIntosh, Tourism Principles, PractiCes and Philosophies (Columbus: Grid, Inc., 1972), p. 260. llsUnited Nations Interregional Seminar on Tourism Development, op. cit., p. 65. 1161bid., p. 65. 117 118Robert Erbes, International Tourism and the Economy of Develgplflg The Gambia News Bulletin, May 15, 1973, p. 3. Countries, Organization f0r Economic C00peration and Development, 1973, p. 10. "9The Gambia News Bulletin, November 26, 1970, p. 3. 120 121 122"Gambia-The Realities of Tourism,“ Africa, An International Business, Economic and Political Monthly, October 1971, p. 49. 123"Tourism in The Gambia," A report prepared by the government of Gambia by Comprehensive Planning Associates, 1972, p. 24. 124Phillip M. Allen and Aaron Segal, Traveler's Africa (New York: HOpkinson & Blake Publishers, 1973), p. 479. '25The Honorable S. M. Dibba, Budget Speech. Sessional Paper No. 3. June 25, 1971, p. 7. 126"Gambia-The Realities of Tourism,“ Africa, An International Business, Economic and Political Monthly, October 1971, p. 49. 127Susan Blumenthal, Bright Continent: A Shoestring_Guide to Sub- Saharan Africa (Garden City: Doubleday,71974). p. 66. AZBPhillip M. Allen and Aaron Segal, Traveler's Africa (New York: Hopkinson & Blake Publishers, 1973), p. 479. 129United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Elements of T0urism Policy_in Developing Countries, Geneva, Switzerland, 1973, p. 51. 130Robert Erbes, International Tourism and the Economy of Develop- ingountries, Organization for EConomic Cooperation andTDeVE10pment, 19 3, p.711. 13]“Gambia-Flying High," Africa, An International Business, Economic and Political Monthly, No. 9, May 1972, p. 42. Ibid., p. 3. The Gambia News Bulletin, July 9, 1970, p. 3. 90 132K. Krapf, “Tourism as a Factor in Economic Development: Role and Importance of International Tourism, "United Nations Conference on Inter- national Travel and Tourism, Item 10(a) of The Provisional Agenda, UNECOSOC, July 1963, p. 16. 133Patrick Rivers, "Unwrapping the Africa Tourist Package," Africa Report, March-April, 1974, p. 14. 134 135 Krapf, 0p. cit., p. 18. Ibid., p. 17. 136Paul E. Jursa and James E. Winkates, "Tourism as a Mode of Development,“ A paper presented at the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of The African Studies Association, Syracuse, October Blst - November 3rd, 1973, p. 8. '37Krapf, op. cit., p. 18. 1331bid., p. 18. Ibid., p. 18. Ibid., p. 19. Ibid., p. 19. 142Robert Erbes, International Tourism and the Economy of Deve10p- in Countries, Organizati0n f0r Economic C60peration and‘Development, 1973, p.98. 143Mr. S. Nathan, “The Role of Foreign Participation in Tburism Development," Tourism Development and Economic Growth, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris 1967, p. 39. '44Ibid., p. 39. 1451bid., p. 40. 146Robert Erbes, International Tourism and the Economy of Develop- in Countries, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 1973. 9.79? 147 Ibid., p. 9. CHAPTER IV CHANGING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF TOURISM Tourism is often discussed in terms of its potential to be of assistance to less developed countries rather than its actual impact on these countries. The distinction is important in relationship to the context of underdevelopment and structural dependence as tourism's potential is unlikely to be fully realized under these circumstances. The concern of this chapter is with the actual impact of tourism on Gambia's development. However, to establish a comparative base, attention will be drawn to both theory and fact. In Chapter One, it was stated that development was a hand-in-hand situation between economic and social progress. Therefore, any meaningful analysis of the impact of tourism should involve this dual assessment. Purely as an organizational measure, the discussion in this chapter is developed in three parts. The first two deal with the impact of tourism on The Gambia's economic development and then its impact on social development, albeit that the two are related and inseparable. (It must be borne in mind that tourism is a contributory factor in most cases, rather than the sole cause of any effects that can be attributed to it). Lastly, this chapter deals with government regulation of the tourist industry as it is a key determinant of how tourism has so far impacted on the economic and social milieu of The Gambia. 91 W _ ___+ ___ ___., 92 A. The Economic Component In Chapter Two, an appealing argument was stated for considering a foreign-travel industry to be a potentially valuable attribute to most less deve10ped countries. This potential was identified as the contri- bution tourism could make to the balance-of—payments situation, as an earner of foreign exchange. While this is perhaps the most conspicuous and most frequently cited benefit of tourism, it is also widely held that tourism creates an increase in employment opportunities. Together these benefits constitute the major direct effects that tourism is reported to have on an economy. The major indirect effects tourism is thought to have on an economy are: a rise in gross national product as a result of the income multiplier, the stimulation of secondary industries such as construction and manufacturing, and the correction of regional economic imbalances through the implantation of tourism in areas devoid of other industries. Each of these effects will be examined in turn. 1. Tourism as a Source of Foreigg Exchange In the 1972/73 fiscal year, gross foreign exchange earnings from tourism were estimated at seven million Dalasi. This figure compares with gross domestic product of ninety-seven million Dalasi in that year. While agriculture made up about fifty percent of the gross domestic product, the Minister of Finance stated that the contribution from tourism has risen to fifteen percent.‘ These encouraging statistics camouflage the fact that the net gain of foreign exchange accruing to The Gambia is considerably smaller than seven million Dalasi. It is likely that as much as eighty-five to "” ninety percent of total tourist expenditures is lost revenue to The Gambia.2 The two major contributory factors that generate this loss stem from non-Gambian ownership of necessary tourist plant and costs incurred by the government through tourism's promotion. a. Non-Gambian Ownership of Tourist Plant Gambia Airways was established in 1964, as a partnership between the Gambian government and British United Airways. Control of the com— -- pany has, until recently, rested with British Caledonia (formerly BUA) which held sixty percent of the shares in the company.3 In 1973, Gambia ‘\ Airways came under government control, converting the partnership to a sixty/forty arrangement in which The Gambia has the majority share. But this nationalization still leaves British Caledonia managing the company 4 and providing training for staff. Most of the skiller personnel are still being brought in from overseas;5 however, BUA does provide free overseas training for a number of Gambians.6 Gambia Airways is one of the few national airlines in the world -. without a single aircraft of its own.7 The only real function of the company is maintaining ground staff for handling the traffic of other 8 with only modest earnings accruing from this service. As airlines, regards tourism development, one finds that The Gambia is completely reliant upon one or more foreign-owned carriers for the transport of its tourists. The three main companies servicing The Gambia are Vingressor in Stockholm, Spies in Copenhagen and the British Far Horizon out of London.9 94 Not only is The Gambia serviced mainly by charter flights, but they also tend to be all inclusive-tours. An all-inclusive tour is a ”7 travel plan for which pre-arranged return transportation, wholly by air or partly by air and partly by surface, together with ground facilities (such as meals, hotels, etc.) are sold for a total prive.]0 The disadvantage of inclusive tours, to The Gambia, are twofold. Charter inclusive tours do not encourage additional spending by tourists ~~~~ and directly they spend very little money in The Gambia. Swedish tourists, in particular, have been accused of parsimony by local merchants.]] Secondly, charter inclusive tours are paid for in the country of the tourists' origin.]2 Except for the small portion that is remitted to The Gambia, from airport taxes, etc., much of the profit remains in Sweden. Consequently it is Sweden's balance-of-payments which is most Ree favored by the expansion of tourism in The Gambia. From Table Fifteen one can ascertain that a very high proportion of hotels in The Gambia are foreign-owned. As new hotels are developed, however, there has been a tendency for the Gambian government to have some holdings.]3 Generally Speaking, involvement of indigenous entrepreneurs is -_g confined largely to the small guest houses which generally account for a smaller pr0portion of beds and a smaller proportion of gross tourist receipts. Some plausible reasons for the reluctance of indigenous owners of capital to enter the new hotel industry have been summarized by John M. Bryden, who did a similar study in the Caribbean. They are as follows; 95 .Apzpcoz AmUApAAoa use UAEocouu mmmcwmam < .muwwwn .mm\¢omp goom Low» ownsow och .cvpmppzm mzmz emaseu och nmAmbr.Pmemm a cogeni.oowe$< mptmpm>mth .¢Am_ .Amgpcm53Am cmmsm .mowgm< cmemcmminzm op wuwzw newcummocm < "ucmcwucou unmvgm ”mmuezom mm Acowuuagumcouv semepm apex OPAoa< iii ii emm Agmvcsv ammgpm :uox :ummm zopmmcsm .p>oo cmAQEmw one a ooo.mmmo eaao_cm commocmee> omm NAm_ Age: .pm oaau Geezezm iii :mmqogam mm pump Azncem coppgmo mmemncmmAAg ooo.ooea a comaocaew> one _Am_ o_az acaflad age ooo.omAw cmwnmzm ome sump m mAAz commm Locum: Amwcou< mo mammv ii- cmwnsmc in- ouxmmm— Aswcom Aswcam one iii ii iii A Panama emceemh ii- -i ii- A pancmm macm> Ampcm>gmm __>_u vcm mmecomgma AmUApAAom ii- .. cow um>emmmmv M Aswcom mmso: “mom mem_:u ii- mmmcmnwg -ii Asncom xwmm a; on Pogo: ii- :mmgogzm ii- A Asmcmm m.mow m—ocs ooo.o¢w Lommmemcw> mm A N mpwz pogo: m>oeo spam ii- :mwasou mm mmmp szcem mwcou< och Aeo_eeaaa mampv coo.mcw :moaoesm cap emmp Azwcmm uwucepu< och zopwcm Anywamu cmwwgom awcmemczo mumm mo .02 umcmppnmumu Lem» cowpmooA pope: to 05oz aAQEau age :2 moeemwcoeoacaeu Pope: zmmhuHu mgmoo 0000500 as» Low 0000 peoamg < .00050u on» :0 Emweaoh .mmumwuomm< mgmccmpa m>Amcmgmg05ou "wocaom . ace "cgzpmx $0 mama ooo.mmm.m ooo.m~m.m ooo.ouw.¢ 000.com.F ooo.ommi ooo0mm00Pi ooo.wm~.~i 0o_000000 000 000.000.0 000.000.0 000.000.A 000.00A.0 000.000.0 000.00P.~ 000.0AA o0eo>om 002 000.000 000.000 000.000.N 000.0_0.0 000.000.0 000.0A0.0 000.0_0.~ 0000 A0000 000.00 ... 000.00 000.00 000.00 000.00 000.00 000.00 000000 _000: 000.00 ... 000.00 000.00 000.00 000.00 000.00 000.00 00000>co0000 0000-020: 000.00 ... 000.0A 000.0A 000.00 000.0A 000.0A 000.05 0ooe>co0 Pao00oz 000.000 ... 000.000 000.000 000.000 000.000 000.000 000H0~N 00000000< 0000000 000.00 ... 000.00 000.00 000.00 000.00 000.00 000 00 .0c00 peasao_o>o0 0p0oo cacao 000.00A 000.000 000.00A 000.000 000.00A 0c00c0< 000.000 000.000 000.000 000300 000.000 000.00, 000.000.. 000.000 000.000 0000: 000.000 000.000., 000.000.F 000.000., 000.000 Apeowceoo_0 000.00 000.00 000.00A 00000 000.0A0 000.000 000.0Am 000.0A0 000000_o>o0 0000 ~0\_00A 0A\AA0F AA\0A0P 0A\0A0_ 0A\0AOA 0A\0AOA 0A\~A0_ 00000 A0c0000c00acee~ Amwmepmov Ammmpimumpv memou Amgzuuseummgmca owmwumam 500L000 co mgzuwccmaxm mo czocxmmgm zmuhxum m¢m