By Yunus S Saliu
As part of the successes registered at the just concluded 45th edition of the Top Resa International and French Market (IFTM) otherwise called Top Resa IFTM 2023 by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture is that the flight ticket of Banjul-Dakar route will equate with the Dakar-Ziguinchor route flight ticket.
This latest development was reached during a round table meeting led by The Gambia delegate led by Honorable HamatNK Bah with the Senegalese Delegation during the Top ResaIFTM 2023 held in Paris, France from the 3rd to the 5th of October 2023.
Honourable Minister Hamat NK Bah, at the meeting, emphasized the issue of domestication of the Banjul-Dakar route as promised by the two Presidencies (of The Gambia and Senegal) while he also highlighted the importance of domestication of the route which is to the advantages of both countries at the meeting.
However, the good news for the stakeholders and people who travel by air from Destination Gambia to Dakar, Senegal and vice-versa is that the CEO of Air Senegal, in his response, promised that on Monday, the 9th of October 2023 the cost of air ticket between Dakar-Banjul will not be more than the cost of a ticket between Dakar-Ziguinchor, “a highlight of the meeting between the two delegations.”
Meanwhile, this year’s edition marked the first time that Destination Gambia participated in this important International French Market 45th edition held at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, in the heart of Paris and it brought together 170 destinations and 30,000 tourism professionals.
The Gambia delegation to the 45th edition of the Top ResaIFTM was led by Minister Hamat NK Bah, supported and accompanied by the Gambian High Commission in France, the Director General of the Gambia Tourism Board (GTBoard) – Aboubacarr S Camara, Director General of National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) – Hassoum Ceesay, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture (MOTC) – Hassan Jallow and GTBoard Director of Tourism Promotion-UK – Adama Njie, among others.
At Top Resa IFTM, the Destination Gambia team has the great opportunity to openly promote and sell Destination Gambia, Smiling Coast of Africa’s tourism products, culture, artifacts, hotels and resorts, and tourism activities among others to different French nationals and other participants from all over 170 destination markets across the world.
