and this is really sad...  While I feel they are making the best
decision for their customers, unfortuantely, it's not going to be the
Gambian governmetn who suffers the most but the averaage Gambain who
makes their living off of the tourism industry.  This is really sad.

And yes, I know I said tha tonce already.

Ginny



On 3/16/09, Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Â
> Courtesy of The Gambia Echo
> Â
> Â
> British Tour Operators React to German Tourist's Letter
> -Say 'Jammeh Gov't  Acts Like Scared, Jealous Teenagers'
> Â
> Dear Editor,
> Â
> We have just read the article by your German reader yesterday. We would like
> to add our comments from the UK and hope they will be read by some of the
> Gambian government officials who care about their own livelihood, even if
> they don’t care about the people (as it seems from their behaviour of the
> past few years).
> Â
> Unlike our German friend, we do know The Gambia very well because we own a
> small chain of travel agencies in England and Wales. A couple of years ago,
> we noticed the drop in bookings for The Gambia and asked some of our regular
> customers why this was. Without any exception, they all cited the actions of
> the Gambian government as their reasons for not wanting to visit the
> country. Some said they were afraid to stay in a country where innocent
> people were picked off the street and disappeared, never to be seen again.
> Â
> Last year, we took two bookings for Gambia holidays, in spite of trying to
> do a countrywide promotion. Word had spread across all of our shops. Even
> people who had been going to The Gambia for many years and said they had
> friends there refused to go. They said they would not give their money to a
> country that was “like Zimbawbe†. Because it was affecting our own
> business, we started to take an interest in the happenings in The Gambia.
> Â
> When we read about the arrest and sentencing of Mr. and Mrs. Fulton just
> before Christmas, we decided to remove The Gambia from our list of
> destinations because it was clear that nobody was safe in that country. In
> fact, we even went to the expense of reprinting our brochures. Nobody wants
> to go to a supposedly democratic country where they can be arrested for
> speaking their minds.
> Â
> If people are looking for winter sun and nice beaches, we sell them Ghana,
> where they feel safe and are not afraid of being arrested for no reason.
> This year, we have sold over 60 package holidays to Ghana, giving that
> country revenue of over UK£65,000 in the first few months of the season.
> Â
>
>
>
>
> ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
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