BUSINESS TRAVEL GUIDE

Africa’s smallest nation is also one of its most content and attractive, and the rest of the world is beginning to take notice

Gambia: The Smiling Coast of West Africa

Gambia may be the smallest country in

Africa but it is certainly packing a punch in recent years as its reputation as a tourist hotspot gathers momentum.

Consequently having a knock-on effect on the country’s economy and individual business lines across areas of hospitality, cuisine, finance and travel, its GDP has consistently grown yearon-year for more than a decade now; and is showing no signs of slowing down as its accessibility and appeal continues to develop.

Engulfed on three sides by Senegal, its immediate access into West Africa has always affirmed its usefulness to the wider continent despite its diminutive stature, but it is the fourth side opening Gambia up to the Atlantic Ocean that holds most of the potential for the country moving forward.

Occupying the navigable length of the Gambia River valley and its surrounding hills, in total Gambia only enjoys 80 kilometres of coastline, but it’s the array of resorts, trade routes, business opportunities and paradise views that are packed into this stretch that have contributed most significantly to the country’s recent rise to global prominence.

Inevitably, the majority of tourists visit Western Gambia - the Atlantic facing region - and Upriver Gambia

- the rest of the highly vegetated country - for the weather and temperatures between November and May (dry season) but as recognition grows, so too does the diversity of Gambia’s appeal, and the business travel sector is thriving as a result.