Angela Colley, the Secretary of State for Tourism and Culture has described  The Gambia as a  renowned  leader in the field of responsible tourism thus  wining  accolodes and awards in this field internationlly.

SoS Colley was speaking during  the fourth ‘Tour Operators Induction’  held  onWednesday,November 7,2007 at the Ocean Bay Hotel organised by the Gambia Tourism Authority in collaboration with stakeholders in the tourism sector.

According to her, responsible tourism is about enabling local communities to enjoy a better quality of life, through increased socio-economic benefits and an improved envirnoment,the provision of exciting holiday experience for tourist and stimulating bussiness opportunities for tourism enterprise.

She added “The Gambia is fully committed to implement responsible tourism which is also in line with the objectives of the tourism development master plan”
She then call on  stakeholders to support the responsible tourism partnership both morally and financially as its sucess depends on all of them.

Speaking earlier, Mr Charbel Hobeika of TTAG said his association is an umbrella for responsible tourism and his members are dedicatied to thesafety of clients and the welfare of the local community.

Kaliba Senghore,  Director General of the Gambia Tourism Authority (GTA) described the occasion as another step forward in the tourism sector development adding that the purpose of the gathering was to learn, share and discuss issuess relevant to the sector.
He  reassured the gathering of his office’s continued commitment to market The Gambia  as a tourism destination.