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ASSERT - Gambia

Contact Address:

ASSERT
Association of Small Scale
Enterprises in Responsible Tourism
AU Highway
Brufut
(by Ida Chams cooking school)
P.O. Box 4587 Bakau New Town
The Gambia, AssetWest Africa

Tel no: +220 7749277

Email: admin@assertgambia.com


Information:
ASSERT stands for the Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Responsible Tourism is a tourism business advisory service.

The organisation offers a wealth of knowledge from their board and existing membership as well as providing various training courses. ASSERT offers micro-financing packages and preferential loan rates to its memebers.

The association is supported by the Gambia Tourism Board as well as other stakeholders. It has also received support from the British High Commission.

Their Role:
•
Provide support to members with product development, quality control, marketing, access to finance and training.
 
•
Contribute to sustainable development of the Gambian Tourism Industry by utilising the practice and principles of Fair Trade in Tourism.
 
•
Contribute to improving the tourism industry in The Gambia and partisicipate in the country's development.
 
•
The defence of small-scale business interests in the tourist industry
 
•
Develop partnerships with other institutions, government and external organisations where suitable
 
•
Highlight suitable quality standards for members
 
•
Work collaboratively, encourage networking and joint activities amongst members
 
•
The continuance of good relations between ASSERT and comparable organisations in other countries.

ASSERT are also the founders of the Gambia’s Good Market in partnership with the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) to provide a market platform for 'Made in the Gambia' products produced by youths varying from arts and craft, natural health and beauty,
fashion and accessories, and more.

Furthermore, the association organises the Sunday Market in partnership with the Senegambia Beach Hotel to provide market access for craft market sales people and also as a counter balance to the all-inclusive hotels.

In its drive to advocate for responsible tourism, ASSERT, among other things, partners with Travel Without Plastic (TWP) in organising workshops for members to discuss the hazards of plastic and alternatives to plastic usage.

Their History:
In 1999 Gambia Tourism Concern partnered with The British High Commission and ran a tourism workshop. This brought together various organisations and associations engaged in the sector. These institutions suffered from a suffered from a lack of organisation and were at the margin of the tourism sector. Several were in competition and often conflicted with each another. The workshop recognised the necessity for small organisations to work together to enhance the economic benefits for the people working in them.

The Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET) was established in April 2000 by Adama Bah and Sheik Tijan Nyang with the aim of bringing together, advocating for, and promoting many small enterprises that were operating in the tourism industry.

These businesses included juice pressers and fruit sellers, craft market vendors, official tourist guides, tourist taxi drivers, as well as some guest houses, small hotels and ground tour operators etc.

Within five years over eighty organisations joined its membership, had hosted an international conference on Fair Trade in Tourism and had been recognised by the then Gambia Tourism Authority (GTA) as an important vehicle for the more marginalised.

It had become a leading organisation in the Gambian Responsible Tourism Partnership programme that was being steered by the GTA. That programme brought together the key stakeholders in the tourism industry (tour operators, hoteliers, government, small scale businesses and ground handlers to ensure that the adverse effects of tourism were reduced and that maximum benefits were received by local people and their communities.

In 2005 ASSET was awarded with the Best for Poverty Reduction at the First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards held at the World Travel Market in London, England. The event was sponsored by First Choice Holidays PLC in partnership with responsibletravel.com, Geographical Magazine, The Times newspaper and the World Travel Market.

In June 2018, ASSET rebranded itself to better reflect their commitment to Responsible Tourism and ASSET was re-named ASSERT.

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