Green Season, A Good Period For Domestic Tourism

By Yunus S Saliu

It is wet, wet, wet everywhere in the green season. A season of wealth for farmers hence it is a period for planting while harvest comes later.

It is a period some people like most because it is always not as hot as other seasons.

In destination Gambia, the green season is a good period for domestic tourism as many people travel to the hinterland to do some farm work and later return to their base or place of work before the end of the season.

During this season hinterland increasingly becomes a popular destination for traveling youth especially those that need holiday or seasonal jobs that reside in the urban areas. Most of these people often travel back to their various hometowns to help their parents cultivate some plots of land for farming.

It is also a period that some tourists would like to spend in the hinterlands with some families and friends as it allows them to learn and have deep knowledge of how the rural people work and live their lives within the limited resources available to them.

The season which is open for everyone comes with lots of opportunities and it is the best time for agriculture tourism hence it will enable visitors and tourists to the Gambia to observe the method of farming products available. Their observations and feasibility study will enable them to know which area of farming to invest in.

Like other sectors, agriculture, and tourism among other things will allow product diversification and improve agriculture value chain linkages, and another important thing is that it will increase food security that will even promote agriculture in the industry since the tourism season in the destination, in particular, the Gambia Tourism Board (GTBoard) continuing to maintain the early start of the season one month earlier than ever used to be.

However, in some other countries, the tourism industry does provide an export market for a host of agricultural products for hotels and resorts from other destinations, though demands for them differ from each other and Destination Gambia is not left out of this.

More so, not only tourism and agriculture sectors or farmers and investors benefit from agriculture tourism but other beneficiaries are benefitting from it that are visible including them are the transport sector, consumers, labourers, wholesalers/retailers including food vendors. According to experts, “Agritourism is often a feasible strategy for local economic development to promote traditional sustainable agriculture practices.

“The development of agritourism tours and demonstration are attractions in rural areas provides the potential for creating and expanding micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise (MSMEs) core and supply chain businesses, including transport, food service and products, and handicrafts.”

With the green season, it is not just sun, sand, and sea for destination Gambia, it is beyond that as a different type of tourism is welcome. The destination is a place you can visit as many times as possible in a year all round because of peace, tranquillity, and also cheaper with less expenses without jetlag.