The Daily Observer (Banjul)
Yunus S Saliu
22 October 2008
Mboka 2008 was on Saturday 18 October, 2008, declared open at a colourful ceremony by the vice president and secretary of state for Women's Affairs, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy at the Paradise Suites Hotel, Senegambia.
West African countries were well represented at the trade fair. Each country and organization displayed their various products, culture and heritage in a very attractive manner.
Despite just kicking off, the trade fair seems to be highly successful. Many of the participants from abroad stated that they really feel at home, thanks to the rich culture of The Gambia, and the hospitality accorded them by the Gambia Tourism Authority (GTA), hosts and the organizers of this big event.
Each day of the trade fair is filled with different activities. It is never dark, late or boring at the fair grounds. Different stakeholders throng the grounds on a daily basis for shopping and business negotiations.
It is a really B2B forum where major actors engage in tourism and hospitality both in West Africa and Europe have enough time to meet and discuss the way forward on sustainable tourism. From a tourism perspective, sustainability pertains to the environment, cultural identity, economic well-being and even social stability. All these formed part of crucial discussions being held.
At the opening of the event, Her Excellency Dr Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, took her time - along with Nancy Njie, the secretary of state for Culture and Tourism, Kaliba Senghore, permanent secretary at the Department of State for Culture and Tourism and Alieu Mboge, director general of GTA - to visit and inspect all the stalls one after the other. She used the inspection as an opportunity to chat with each and every representative of each country and other stakeholders participating in this wonderful and laudable event.
The event is, on the whole, well planned. The staff and management of Paradise Suites Hotel are very cordial and job-oriented. They attended to everyone with courtesy. Stalls were perfectly arranged in the spacious garden at the entrance of the Paradise Suites Hotel and very close to the conference room. This allowed different activities to take place simultaneously.
The Kabakel group were also on stage to entertain the guests. In the evening, the Kora maestro, Sajor Bah. The Jali brothers and traditional 'mama-para' (a dancer on stilts) were not left out during the entertainment.
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