The Tourism Diversification and Resilience in The Gambia Project (TDRGP) Thursday October 1, 2026, held a validation workshop on the Visitor Management Plan (VMP) for Kunta Kinteh Island (KKI) and associated sites in Albreda and Juffureh.
The convergence, held at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre in Bijilo, provided tourism stakeholders an opportunity to review key findings, recommendations and implementation priorities outlined in the report.
The report presents a comprehensive framework for enhancing visitor management, heritage conservation, community participation, interpretation, governance, and sustainable tourism development for Albreda, Juffureh, and Kunta Kinteh island destination.

In his welcoming remarks, the Project Director of the TDRG Mr. Momodou Ceesay, said the objective of TDR Project is to reduce the sector’s dependency on coastal, seasonal tourism through the development of a more diversified and sustainable tourism model, capable of leveraging the country’s rich cultural, historical, and natural assets across a wider geographical area.
He revealed that The TDR project, implemented by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture through the Project Implementation Unit has since 2022 rolled out activities to improve tourism infrastructure, develop tourism products, strengthen destination management systems, enhance the quality of visitor experiences, and increase the participation of local communities and small businesses in tourism value chains.
“Albreda and Juffureh, together with the wider Kunta Kinteh Island and Fort Bullen as UNESCO designated World Heritage Site, was identified as one of these10 priority sites. The assessment highlighted both the high cultural and symbolic value of the destination and identified a set of structural constraints limiting its current potential, including fragmented visitor infrastructure, limited interpretation and storytelling, weak spatial and functional integration between the island and mainland sites, and underdeveloped mechanisms for community engagement.”

Declaring the workshop open on behalf of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MoTAC), Mr. Hassoum Ceesay, the Director General of the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC), noted that in line with the objectives of the national Tourism Policy, the Visitor Management Plan seeks to move beyond isolated infrastructure upgrades and instead establish a clear visitor management framework at the destination level, supported by targeted, implementation-ready interventions.
“The focus is on improving the quality, coherence, and functionality of the visitor experience, increasing length of stay and local spending, and strengthening the role of gateway communities as active custodians and beneficiaries of heritage tourism.”
He thanked KEIOS Development Consulting the numerous government officials, tourism stakeholders and the community of Juffureh and Albreda who work tirelessly with consultants from the inception stage to the consultation phase and to the final elaboration of the plan.

The main highlight of the validation workshop was a presentation by the lead consultant and author of the Visitor Management Plan Dr. Simon Woodward. It covered the purpose of the plan, process overview, key findings, proposals for governance, community engagement and implementation roadmap. He described the destination as a passionate community of people who want to share not just the history of slavery which is an incredibly important part of the story of humankind, but also their contemporary ways of life – how they farm, how they cook, how they worship, how they celebrate. The lead consultant said that’s one of the key opportunities they are hoping to build on.
The workshop, which was also marked by a plenary discussion and a feedback session with the stakeholders, facilitated a robust conversation on governance arrangements, community participation, visitor experience improvements, and implementation priorities identified in the Visitor Management Plan as well as the next steps.