A Study of Perception of Ecotourism in Two Rural Communities, the Makasutu and the Sandele Project, in The Gambia

For many poor and developing countries, sustainable development offers a different path from conventional economic growth to achieve a better quality of life. One such alternative path is the pursuit of ecotourism instead of conventional tourism, because ecotourism focuses on the preservation of nature and culture and on economic and cultural benefits accruing to the local communities. Therefore, my research investigated how two Gambian ecotourism projects have impacted the lives of the people living in and around them, and how the people have perceived the advantages and disadvantages of these projects. From a development perspective, ecotourism projects should only be considered successful if local communities have some measure of control over them and if they share equitably in the benefits emerging from the ecotourism activities. Therefore, my thesis provided more detailed information to the government of The Gambia on how to enhance its sustainable development by providing a summary of current issues facing tourism and eco-tourism in The Gambia and using a questionnaire to gauge the perception of two ecotourism projects in The Gambia, namely the Makasutu and the Sandele projects.
The results from my thesis indicate that tourism is growing particularly rapidly within the Gambian economy and is becoming a major part of it, and that both the idea and the implementation of ecotourism as a viable alternative to conventional tourism are spreading within Gambian society. Two particularly successful projects, namely the Makasutu and the Sandele ecotourism projects, were therefore chosen to be investigated through the use of a questionnaire with 63 questions. 95 and 80 people from a wide variety of backgrounds responded from the Makasutu and the Sandele ecotourism projects, respectively.
Overall, the two ecotourism projects have been beneficial to the environment (including conservation), economy, and health of both the Makasutu and the Sandele local communities. Also, the overall satisfaction was higher among Sandele than Makasutu respondents, which may be due to the Sandele owners giving more current and future benefits to the community. Both communities use natural products from the ecotourism sites, both use health facilities which are located nearby, and both have many people employed directly or indirectly through the ecotourism projects. Respondents also listed some perceived advantages (mostly more jobs) and disadvantages (mostly waste disposal) from each project, and what kind of actions the Gambian government could do to improve their situation and the success of ecotourism projects.
Since the two ecotourism projects have been running successfully for years now, have employed many local people and have given various other benefits to the communities, and both the Makasutu and the Sandele respondents were overall satisfied with the ecotourism projects, this thesis overall supports the idea that ecotourism really is something that should be promoted more in the Gambia than traditional tourism, and many other Gambian communities should be encouraged to attempt to launch similar projects.