 
Credit & Debit Cards Acceptability:
You can use some of the major credit cards to withdraw
money from various bank counters in Gambia. Some hotels,
restaurants, airline flights from Banjul Airport to
Europe, car rentals
companies and ground tour operators will accept
either American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club
or Discover if agreed before your departure or at the
beginning your stay.
Some local businesses, such as supermarkets, accept
electronic payments using Visa debit cards or Mastercard
using a POS terminal.
It is strongly advised that you first contact your credit
card company in your country before travelling to inform
them of your travel plans. Furthermore you should contact
your designated hotel and ask them whether they will
accept your payment card before travelling. The last
thing you want is for your credit or debit card to be
automatically blocked while on holiday due to unusual
geographical use.
Transaction Charges:
Credit card fees can be as much as 5% in some hotels.
You are really better off using your card for emergencies
only and use travellers' cheques and your own foreign
currency instead. You can then change your money as
you need it when you get to The Gambia.
Visa Electron Debit Cards and the Visa Classic Debit
Cards are accepted by some banks, such as the Standard
Chartered Bank and Access Bank respectively to make
ATM cash withdrawals. As long as you have the funds
available, you may have to make multiple withdrawals
as the maximum single amount dispensed at one time is
often limited to D3,000. Transaction charges will often
apply per withdrawal making it a costly way to obtain
Dalasis.
Visa TravelMoney is a compromise between travellers'
cheques and plastic cards. It is a prepaid card which
means you can withdraw cash at an ATM. Each time a withdrawal
is made the amount is automatically deducted from the
card.
MasterCard prepaid, credit and debit cards can be used
at GTBank Gambia ATMs and Point of Sale (POS) terminals
including hotels, retailers and restaurants located
in the Greater Banjul area. This allows you to make
electronic payments and cash withdrawals in the local
currency, the Dalasi. For travellers there is an ATM
that is conveniently located on the Bertil Harding Highway,
near the Senegambia Strip junction in Kololi.
American Express (Amex) is accepted by some of the major
hotels and some of the more up-market restaurants.
Diners Club has a limited number of establishments that
accept them.
Maestro cards cannot be used so far in The Gambia.
Discover card has only a few establishments that accept
them.
Solo and Switch cards are not accepted. Do talk to your
card company or designated accommodation about acceptability
before making any travel plans. Also Look at the back
of your card to see if there is a Cirrus or PLUS logo
as they have the widest payment network worldwide. |
