In this article, author and scholar, Modou Lamin Age-Almusaf Sowe identifies the potential negative social and cultural impacts that are linked to tourism development and considers the factors that determine the extent of these impacts in The Gambia and beyond.
He concludes the discourse by discussing how the social and cultural impacts can be managed effectively to ensure that tourism development adheres to the principles of sustainability.
NEGATIVE IMPACTS:
Potential negative socio-cultural impacts of tourism for The Gambia and neighboring communities include:
•conflict of interests
•pressure on limited resources
•resentment
•loss of cultural pride
•displacement of our youths to move overseas or go through the back-way
•crime and prostitution
•begging by children and child labor, etc.
We shall be discussing crime and prostitution and begging by children and child labor as major factors in The Gambia’s tourism industry. The negative social impacts of sex tourism can cause a feeling of resentment against the tourist within the host community.
In areas that are dependent on tourism and where the economy relies on the income derived from it, negative attitudes of the host community towards tourists can undermine the quality of the tourists’ experience and the success of the destination.
This resentment can also be increased by possible racial tensions if the tourists and
the host population is from different racial backgrounds.
Resentment within the local community can also be caused by the behavior of the tourist, which can be seen as inappropriate or in breach of local customs and traditions.
In The Gambia, for example, it introduces our youth to drugs and alcoholism; the cultural values of predominantly Western tourists do not always match the predominantly Islamic and Christian culture of the country. The consumption of alcohol in public, for example, and the tourists who stroll around the town in shorts and bikini tops, can offend the people of the Gambia particularly young girls, and put a strain on relations between ethics and tourism. Even though many tour operators advise tourists to cover up and respect local customs, not all tourists follow these guidelines, which can then lead to discontent within the tourist destinations in The Gambia.
It has already been highlighted that tourism can increase local cultural pride, but tourism can also have the reverse effect and cause a feeling of inferiority in the host population. This is often the case when there is a big difference between the financial power of the tourist and the poor Gambians. Our residents feel that they are objectified in front of the camera and that their culture is overly commercialized. A contributing factor to this loss of cultural pride is that the local population does not feel a part of tourism development and does not share in the benefits it brings: tourism development may be in the hands of foreign investors or large corporations, or the policymakers may not have consulted the locals in their decision making. To encourage a feeling of ownership and pride through tourism development, community participation should be a key element of socially sustainable development.
According to a global report by World Tourism Organization, about 3 million people travel to exotic destinations across the globe while engaging in sex tourism. Unfortunately, this constantly growing phenomenon is mostly felt in regions that also top the charts as leading tourist destinations, including The Gambia, The Smiling Coast of Africa. In light of the above, The Gambia can also be eye marked as a major center as a flourishing sex tourism destination. Regrettably, the fundamental concept of leisure travel is sometimes wrongly perceived by several people whose travel objective is to engage in sexual activities with ordinary Gambian women, men, and children. It can either be voluntary, where the parties involved are aware and willing to engage, or - and in most cases - exploitative.
The complexity of this topic has sidelined it from being spoken about, a factor that has greatly contributed to the clandestine nature of sex tourism. Efforts to curb this culture especially along with the coastal areas of The Gambia quite notable like Senegambia have proved futile, with several factors being attributed to the failure. Sex tourism mostly takes place among people who are willing to pay for the service and those willing to trade their bodies for cash. With thousands of jobless Gambian youths who are driven by poverty to make easy money, we should not expect this trend to change so easily but shouldn’t be also silent about it.
Poor are the young girls and boys who fall victims to greedy and devious individuals and organized criminals who trade them for sex. These children are usually between the ages of 13 and 18 years. The Gambian beach towns of Senegambia, Kololi, Bijilo, and Bakau are vastly popular as leading destinations in sex tourism, notably dominated by the foreign Scandinavian market. It's no doubt that children remain the most affected by this illegal trade. National, as well as international laws, have therefore been put in place to protect the children, including the UNCRC, which states that children and young people have a right to protection from all kinds of abuse, including commercial sexual exploitation. However, challenges such as lack of proper law enforcement and the covert nature of the business continue to frustrate efforts to end this trend. Yet, among other measures, recent developments in online hotel booking systems may just be the elucidation to ending this craze. Phonography and hotel sex has been a very huge challenge to overcome in the Gambia.
Hopefully, with concerted efforts from concerned stakeholders and MoTC, sex tourism in The Gambia will once be an obsolete topic. Elimination of poverty and job creation among other contributors ought to be urgently addressed, failure to which more children will be lost to the sex trade, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases will continue to rise and the picture of the country's tourism industry, in general, shall continue to be tainted amidst all the projected growth.
Victims
Victims of sexual exploitation usually come from vulnerable groups coming as far as inside the hinterland of The Gambia. They are children/ women who live in poverty, children from minority groups, street children, working children, and children who are abused or neglected at home.
Consequences for the Gambian child
Sexual abuse and exploitation have major emotional, psychological, physical, and social consequences for the victims. Abuse and exploitation are usually accompanied by physical and emotional violence, which lead to injuries, pain, and fear. Victims also run a high risk of unintended pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other STIs. In the long term, they have to deal with feelings of guilt, depression, trauma, and low self-esteem. Victims often suffer from stigmatization and are excluded from education. Child sex tourism harms the health, well-being, and prospects of children. Once involved in prostitution, it is extremely difficult to get out of it.
Consequences for the communities in the Gambia
Sexual exploitation of children does not only affect the child, it also has a disruptive impact on the entire community. If (child) prostitution is a major source of income, the entire community is at risk of HIV/AIDS and other STIs. The sector is also a magnet for crime and corruption. The (child) sex tourism image only appeals to a small target group. Tourism cannot develop optimally because the destination gets a bad reputation amongst tourists and investors. Sexual exploitation of children in tourism, therefore, undermines the development of sustainable tourism that helps bring prosperity.
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