PACKAGES – AN OPTION? As a conscientious tourist, is it necessary to buy a specialist holiday or do all the planning of the trip yourself? Can we buy a package deal with a clear conscience?
A specialist or independent holiday is often the best choice, but this does not suit everyone. I believe that tourism must exist in all its forms, but that the content must be changed. Package tourism today is often mass tourism, with its many negative consequences, but this need not be the case, if we think a little more about how we behave.
The first condition regarding package tourist is this: do not buy an all-inclusive, full board deal, because this leaves you with no freedom of choice at all. The idea of package deals is that they help the tourist’s budget, but this argument is false. If you decide to go to local restaurants, you will find lower prices that if you eat at the hotel, or if you have a self-catering apartment and buy goods from the local market. One thing that is quite certain: package deals do nothing to help the local population with their budget.
In the Gambia efforts are made to forbid all-inclusive package deals today because of their negative consequences for the host country, but many holidays are sold with half board, and this too limits your choice. Food is one of the most significant factors in tourist consumption – after all, everyone has to eat. So, if you do buy a package, buy one which includes as little as possible.
As a package tourist, you can ask questions and make demands, and this is of great importance in determining how tourism will develop. Ask to stay in a smaller hotel, no higher than two storeys, preferably several hundreds metres from the sea. Construction on the seashore is leading to erosion (see Animals and Nature) and destruction of the ecosystem – hotel development in the Gambia has destroyed turtle breeding grounds.
§ Conserve natural resources – do not waste water; turn off lights and air-condition when you go out.
§ As far as you can, buy goods from local shopkeepers instead of supermarkets, which ore often owned by foreign interests. Although many goods are in any case imported, the act of shopping itself provides some income.
§ If you want to make excursions, contact ASSET or the Gambia Tourism Concern (see address list) for good advice about excursion organisers.
Alternative. Buy a yo-yo passenger seat or travel in the normal way, but make your arrangements in the Gambia through ASSET. If you arrange your accommodation through ASSET they will meet you at the airport, so the service is certainly no less than you would find on a package trip. Just tell them what it is that you are looking for.
