Senegalese Tourism Industry: 4 propositions to boost tourism

While the objective of the government is to reach 3 millions tourists in 2023, the current trend draws another picture. Indeed while in the early 2000's, Senegal was enjoying 1.5 millions tourists per year and was the main contributor of the national economy, the number of visitors has been continuously decreasing and seems to stabilize around 1 millions visitors presently, using the most optimistic statistics. So we will review a couple of propositions to reverse this trend.

1. To reduce the airport tax

To flight to Senegal from Europe is quiet expensive compared to Morocco or others sunny european destinations. So for their targeted customers which are mostly on a budget, the travel cost is a decisive factor when it comes to choose the destination. And with a minimum of 600 USD from the main european capital, Senegal doesn't come cheap.

2. To develop business tourism

All the neighboring countries are facing some troubles, Mali is still struggling with the north part of the country and is regularly facing deadly incidents, Mauritania is sill unsecured, Gambia is not a very engaging country for the time being and Guinea is almost inexistant. Senegal could really become a hub for business convention and exhibition. The security forces are controlling firmly the country and no major trouble has been reported for long except skirmishes in Casamance which are becoming less and less recurrent. 

3. To encourage ecotourism and cultural tourism

Seaside tourism is obviously a crowded niche and a lot of Senegal's competitors are enjoying a competitive edge with better transportation rates, better hotel facilities and more experimented manpower. Betting on culture and ecotourism could be a better choice. With Goree Island, Saint Louis, Sine Saloum and now Casamance, Senegal enjoys good assets to target this niche.

4. Develop intra-africn tourism 

With the rapidly increasing middle class in Africa, or west Africa. It would certainly be wise to start to offer packages for west africans tourists that could certainly enjoy a week or 2 of vacation in Senegal thanks to its security, welcoming traditions and beautiful natural landscapes.

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