By Elisha Harding
Momodou Singhateh, Deputy Director General of the Gambia Tourism and Hospitality Institute, on the 6th June 2022 , held discussions bordering on possible support training in the field of tourism with the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Memunatu Pratt at the Ministry’s Kingharman Road Office in Freetown.
Prior to the Deputy Director General’s visit to Dr. Pratt, the Gambian High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Allieu K. Jammeh informed the Minister that a group of people running a tourism school in The Gambia will visit and consult with the Ministry on how they can support and provide assistance in the area of tourism in collaboration with the hotel association for those working in hotels.
Momodou Singhateh said it was in the spirit of African brotherhood that they want Sierra Leone to benefit from what The Gambia has enjoyed in the area of hospitality over the years just as The Gambia benefitted from Sierra Leonean education in the 80’s.
He said the development of the industry should not be in isolation, hence they cannot develop as a West African Destination in the absence of their brothers and sisters. He added that modern tourism is very dynamic and people are looking for value for money. He revealed that a cruise shipping company based in USA will be recruiting 2500 staff to sign them up in various cruise ships across the world, an opportunity he said they want to extend with other West African Countries starting with Sierra Leone.
In her remarks, the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Memunatu Pratt thanked the Deputy Director General for the visit and welcomed the idea of training people in the hotel industry, saying that it matched what the Ministry has been doing over the years.
To get this initiative up and running in the right direction, they agreed on the following action points; that they signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gambia through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in supporting Sierra Leone with hospitality training especially with in service and short term courses in partnership with the hotel association, short term training that will be organized by the Ministry and the hotel association as an immediate action for basic hospitality training for those already employed, developing the framework and action plan, visit to the regions for an on the spot assessment of training needs of the sector in addition to the human resource capacity building needs assessment done by Government.
