Tourism in Senegal is a vital part of the West African nation's economy.
Tourism in Senegal is a vital part of the West African nation's economy.
From a relatively small industry at the introduction of the first Club Med resort in the 1970s, tourism has grown to be an important part of the Senegalese economy. Since the 1990s, Senegal has made an effort to reach beyond visitors from the former colonial power France and is attracting tourists from Spain, Britain and Italy, in part motivated by the example of neighboring Gambia, which draws a relatively larger tourist share from Northern Europe and the Americas to its Banjul coastal resorts. [1]
In 2008, Senegal's foreign tourist visitors had reached 1 million, attracted to luxury beach resorts, natural and historic sites. The return rate for visitors stood at around 30% in 2008. [1]
Future projections and bookings announced in 2009 raised fears that the global economic downturn would deal a blow to 2009 and 2010 tourist visits, with a booking rate down from 30% the year before to 5%. [1]
Principal cities of interest include the capital, Dakar; Saint-Louis, an old colonial town; and the Mouride holy centre of Touba. Gorée Island, formerly a centre of the West African slave trade and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, draws many visitors.
Most tourists from outside Africa are Europeans, especially French, and a hotel and resort industry centered on enclosed beach resorts, mostly at resort towns like Saly on the Petite Côte south of Dakar, has arisen to appeal to this clientele since the 1970s. [2] U.S. tourists - often African-Americans - are increasing in numbers, drawn in particular by the historic slave trading post of Goree Island. [3]
Resort vacations are often supplemented by wildlife and nature tours of areas like the Sine-Saloum Delta, the Grande Côte (north of Dakar), the Lac Rose, and Senegal River delta in the north (near Saint-Louis). There are also safari trips offered to see wildlife, perhaps limited by east or South African standards. [2]
Senegal has a small but developing National Park and Reserve System. Notable among these are the Langue de Barbarie National Park and Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary, which provide wildlife habitat in the dunes and mangrove swamps surrounding the mouth of the Senegal River near city of Saint-Louis. [4]
The Niokolo-Koba National Park is a World Heritage Site and natural protected area in south eastern Senegal, near the Guinea-Bissau border, which protects a large variety of wild animals, including hippopotamuses, elephants, and lions. Largely undeveloped, the area is remote and lacks tourist infrastructure, but is a destination for specialty tours. [4]
The Basse Casamance National Park, in the far southwest, includes both ecotourism and tropical forest excursions, and a popular coastal beach resort aimed at foreign tourism. Birdwatching is a major draw. The Casamance conflict has hindered tourist development in this area. The Park has been closed now for a number of years due to rebel activity and mines. On attempting to enter the park (Jan 2019) via Emaye I was turned back by heavily armed army personnel, in no uncertain terms. [4]
The Saloum Delta National Park is a large area of mangrove estuaries and islands, visited by tourists for it wildlife, its cultural interest as the home of the minority Serer people, and its proximity to the tourist resorts of the Petite-Côte. Smaller parks and reserves, like the Guembeul Natural Reserve in the center west, or the Bandia Natural Reserve near Dakar, exit primarily for the more conventional European tourist industry, resembling wildlife parks or zoos. [4]
The main entrance point is Dakar-Blaise Diagne International Airport. Senegal’s capital city of Dakar, on the westernmost point of the continent, is strategically located. [3]
European flights into Dakar are populated by a mix of Senegalese living abroad, African travelers making connections, western European tourists, and a recent surge in Asian workers traveling to work on Chinese government-funded construction projects. [2]
United States based Delta Air Lines opened in December 2006 an Atlanta-Dakar-Johannesburg-Dakar-Atlanta route. [3] The Open Skies Agreement between the U.S. and Senegal signed in January 2001 laid the foundation for direct routes between the U.S. and Senegal by U.S. carriers. [3]
British based travel companies, long organising trips to neighbouring anglophone Gambia, have begun entering a package travel market to Senegal which was until recently dominated by French and Belgian companies. [2]
Regulation, promotion and development of the nation's tourist sector is the remit of Senegal's Ministry of Senegalese Overseas and Tourism (Ministère des Sénégalais de l'Extérieur et du Tourisme (SENEX) or sometimes Ministère des Sénégalais de L'extérieur, de L'artisanat et du Tourisme). [5]
A number of agencies, boards, and partnerships which administer promote and regulate the Senegalese tourism sector report to this ministry. These include the Directorate for the Study and Planning of Tourism (Direction des Etudes et de la Planification touristique), the Directorate of Tourism Regulation and Structure (Direction de la Réglementation et de l’Encadrement du Tourisme), and the National Tourist Promotion Board (Agence nationale de la Promotion touristique - ANPT). [5]
In addition, offices of the Ministry specialise in Tourist industry infrastructural and promotion funding (the Secrétariat du Comité de Gestion du Fonds de Promotion Touristique) and oversea a Tourist industry training school (the Secrétariat du Comité de Gestion du Fonds de Promotion Touristique - ENFHT). [5]
Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal nearly surrounds The Gambia, a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River, which separates Senegal's southern region of Casamance from the rest of the country. Senegal also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. Senegal's economic and political capital is Dakar.
The history of Senegal is commonly divided into a number of periods, encompassing the prehistoric era, the precolonial period, colonialism, and the contemporary era.
The economy of Senegal is driven by mining, construction, tourism, fishing and agriculture, which are the main sources of employment in rural areas, despite abundant natural resources in iron, zircon, gas, gold, phosphates, and numerous oil discoveries recently. Senegal's economy gains most of its foreign exchange from fish, phosphates, groundnuts, tourism, and services. As one of the dominant parts of the economy, the agricultural sector of Senegal is highly vulnerable to environmental conditions, such as variations in rainfall and climate change, and changes in world commodity prices.
The Kingdom of Saloum was a Serer kingdom in present-day Senegal as well as parts of Gambia, then called Lower Saluum. The precolonial capital of Saloum was the city of Kahone. It was a sister to the Kingdom of Sine. Their history, geography and culture were intricately linked and it was common to refer to them as the Sine-Saloum and the Serer Kingdoms of Sine and Saloum.
The Petite Côte is a stretch of coast in Senegal, running south from the Cap-Vert peninsula to the Saloum Delta, near the border with the Gambia.
Senegalese Democratic Bloc was a political party in Senegal, founded on 27 October 1948 by Léopold Sédar Senghor, following a split from the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO). One month after the split from SFIO, Senghor associated himself with the Indépendants d'Outre-Mer parliamentary fraction.
The Société des établissements de plein air du Québec, also known as Sépaq, is the agency of the Government of Quebec that manages parks and wildlife reserves. Sépaq falls under the authority of the Minister of Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs and its head office is located in Quebec City. It employs about 3400 people.
According to the Government of Burkina Faso, 433,778 tourists visited the country in 2011.
The wildlife of Senegal consists of the flora and fauna of this nation in West Africa. Senegal has a long Atlantic coastline and a range of habitat types, with a corresponding diversity of plants and animals. Senegal has 188 species of mammals and 674 species of bird.
Carabane, also known as Karabane, is an island and a village located in the extreme south-west of Senegal, in the mouth of the Casamance River. This relatively recent geological formation consists of a shoal and alluvium to which soil is added by accumulation in the branches and roots of the mangrove trees which cover most of the island. Along with the rest of Ziguinchor Region, Carabane has a tropical climate, cycling between a dry season and a wet season. The island was once considered an arid location where no useful plants were likely to grow, but it now supports several types of fruit tree, the most common of which are mangos and oranges. Although the nearby Basse Casamance National Park and Kalissaye Avifaunal Reserve have been closed for years because of the Casamance Conflict, Carabane has continued to attract ornithologists interested in its wide variety of birds. Various species of fish are plentiful around the island, but there are very few mammals.
The Niominka people are an ethnic group in Senegal living on the islands of the Saloum River delta. They are currently classified as a subgroup of the Serer.
Sine-Saloum is a region in Senegal located north of the Gambia and south of the Petite Côte. It encompasses an area of 24,000 square kilometers, about 12% of Senegal, with a population in the 1990s of 1,060,000.
Saly is a seaside resort area in Thiès Region on the Petite Côte of Senegal, south of Dakar. It is the top tourist destination in all of West Africa and has the status of a commune.
Saloum Delta National Park or Parc National du Delta du Saloum in Senegal, is a 760-square-kilometre (190,000-acre) national park. Established in 1976, it is situated within the Saloum Delta at the juncture of the Saloum River and the North Atlantic.
Joof or Diouf is a surname that is typically Serer. This surname is also spelt Juuf or Juf.
Ziguinchor is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000. It is the seventh largest city of Senegal, but largely separated from the north of the country by The Gambia.
Ministry of Tourism, also known as the Ministry of Tourism and Air Transport, is a government ministry of Senegal. Its head office is on the 8th floor of the Immeuble Y2 Cité Keur Goorgui in Dakar.
Babacar Sedikh Diouf or Babacar Sédikh Diouf is a Senegalese historian, author, researcher, campaigner against "Wolofization", a Pan-Africanist, and former teacher. He has written extensively about the history and culture of Senegal, Africa, and that of the Serer ethnic group to which he belongs. He usually writes by the pen name Babacar Sedikh Diouf.
Saloum is a 2021 Senegalese-French crime horror-thriller film directed by Congolese filmmaker Jean Luc Herbulot, written and produced by Herbulot and Pamela Diop. Set in Senegal in 2003, it mostly uses a mix of French, Wolof, and sign language.
Tourism in Brittany attracts around 13 million visitors a year. An important sector of the region's economy, it accounts for just under 10% of the region's GDP, and directly employs just under 70,000 people. Seasonal activity extends from May to September, and is mainly concentrated on the coast, particularly in the departments of Finistère and Morbihan.
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