What is it about Kunta Kinteh Beach Bar on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean? There is one thing conspicuous about the restaurant; something magically alluring.

The tranquility of Kunta Kinteh Beach Bar is difficult to capture in words. The well-manicured coconut trees, well-arranged sun beds, the ventilated bar and restaurant seem to depict the serenity of the place in a manner befitting the memory of the great man Kunta Kinteh Beach Bar is named after. Thus, it came as no surprise to this columnist when a tourist told him that Kunta Kinteh is a very nice and relaxed place. She did not stop there.

She went further to describe the staff as gregarious and helpful, the service  as  excellent, toilets clean and the proprietor nice and always ready to give everyone a chance. Indeed, food, wine, fun enthusiasts and anyone hungry for sun will be delighted by a visit to Kunta Kinteh. It is a home to a craft market and also boasts of a restaurant specialising in local, continental and international cuisine to give chance to discerning food lovers to indulge their senses.

Sulayman Tamba, commonly called Saul, the manager of Kunta-kinteh, whose fierce countenance hides a very gentle nature, is always poised to ensure consistency in style and quality service delivery, making it a must for anyone coming to The Gambia to visit Kunta Kinteh. Not only that, but Tamba and his team all of whom were driving forces behind the gastronomic activity of many hotels for many years, gives chance to food lovers to  indulge their senses.

Kunta Kinteh Beach Bar is recognised as one of the finest beach bars. Its relaxed atmosphere, hospitality and a scenery that even the best photographer couldn?t capture in picture, makes it a place to be enjoy. Many of these qualities are now contributing to the credibility of the place. It was against this background that the Tourisphere anchorman took it upon himself to reach out to this area to sound the opinion of the proprietor of the Kunta-Kinteh Bar and Restaurant on the current situation of the tourist season in The Gambia. He has this to say : "I have been in the tourism industry for 20 years now, and I have been operating this restaurant for 14 years, allocated to me by the government.

I travel to Europe every summer to promote tourism and Kunta-kinteh as a restaurant, but believe me The Gambian tourism sector still needs support; it needs a strong marketing and technocrats.? This year?s season according to Tamba, is better, compared to the previous years, adding that the past seasons have not been good. Tamba attributed the lack of control over certain developments taking place in the Tourism Development Area (TDA); such as the increase in the number of lodges and guest houses. According to him, this is contributing significantly to the drop in the number of tourists lodged in the hotels.

According to Tamba, a good number of tourists come to The Gambia, but when they come to the hotels few days later they are made to leave the hotels for the   lodges and offerred at cheaper cost by lodge owners. Some of these lodges, he noted are in fact illegal.He opined that  a  proper control mechanism should be put in place to avert such happening as a way of controlling tourists and promoting effective tourism in the country.

Marketing  
For a better attraction, Tamba suggested that a strong marketing strategy needs to be in place which, he said  needs a huge sum of money. "I think also GTA needs  lot of incentives and powerful promotion mechanisms to sell the country?s tourism products to the wider world.

According to him, tourism has now become a competition, "If you go to other countries they are pumping millions in promoting tourism and as you can see tourism plays a very important role in the economic sector of this country. For The Gambia to be an attraction centre for tourists like other destinations, it needs the right people for the market," he observed.

Intervention
"I think the only area that needs intervention is marketing; when you look at Africell as a company it focuses more on promoting its products; hence became a household name in the country. Lot of money is invested to attract customers; this is how businesses are run and marketed," he stated.

Low turn out
For Tamba, there are so many factors that contribute to the dropping of tourists coming to The Gambia. According to him, the global financial meltdown have been the major contributing factor. To him, the issue of bumsters should not be considered as a threat to low tourists turn out. "I have been to England and many other countries in Europe, where you see bumsters hustling for you to join them on their boat or you see them with their Guitars talking to you," he stated. "The number of tourists coming to this country probably could increase yearly, but we are not seeing that. If you talk to the hotel owners they also complain of the same thing," The Kunta Kinteh restaurant manager said.

According to Tamba the fact that his restaurant is named after Kunta Kinteh, who was captured and taken during the slavery time to America, has attracted a huge number of tourists. This, he said is as a result of the fact that many of the tourist would become interested to know who was Kunta Kinteh.

He added that during the Roots home coming festival, many black American tourists visit the place because of the name Kunta Kinteh. He said this name had contributed immensely to promoting the place. Tamba  finally thanked the Gambian leader for giving them the opportunity to be in the business and for the conducive environment.