Title: Action Steps for Sustainable Tourism Development in Sierra Leone 2012-2015 Author(s): Megan Epler-Wood; FIAS; Adaptations

By Amadu Massally Affiliations: International Finance Corporation, World Bank, The Monuments and Relics Commission and Freetown Heritage Preservation Society Contact Information: amadu.massally@fambultiktours.com ABSTRACT In 2006, Megan Epler-Wood served as a consultant for a joint project between the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank under the auspices of the Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) to produce a paper entitled Action Steps for Sustainable Tourism Development in Sierra Leone 2007-2010 (recently updated to reflect 2012 2015 timeline). As founding members of the Sierra Leone-Gullah Heritage Association we worked on a small piece of this report. However, the report had always been on my mind with regard to how important it is to implement many of the good suggestions within and when this opportunity came up for a potential tourism discussion, I deemed it necessary to offer it. The objective of the FIAS/DFID Economic Competitiveness and Corporate Social Responsibility project was to identify public policies and instruments that affect investment decisions and that have the greatest potential to attract responsible investors and buyers to Sierra Leone. It focused on the tourism and the mining industries. The resulting report on Industry Solutions for Tourism & Mining,1 delivered to the Government in September 2006, recommends that the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) selectively target key tourism assets to develop, establish a policy for planned development of these assets, and put strong protective measures in place to conserve these assets before demand becomes strong. This will build value, drive the market and investment, and secure credibility for the country in the marketplace. With a conviction that the plan in the report should be implemented, the newlyfound Freetown Heritage Preservation Society has formed a working partnership with the Monuments and Relics Commission to do an assessment of the state of at least sixteen tourism assets that have been identified by successive Governments over the years as to their current status and what attention they warrant in our fledgling tourism industry. The guiding paper argues that national tourism strategic planning in Sierra Leone should be immediately focused on preserving primary tourism attractions and creating viable tourism development clusters of services and infrastructure. The most promising primary attractions have been identified as: Bunce Island, Western Peninsula, and the protected areas Tiwai Island and Outamba Kilimi.2 It also addresses the opportunities to build backward linkages, and increase spillover effects from the tourism industry.3
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FIAS Draft Report: Corporate Social Responsibility and Economic Competitiveness in Sierra Leone: Industry solutions for Tourism and Mining (August, 2006) 2 There is little to no chance that a more protracted strategic planning process will demonstrate that other locations or attractions are of higher priority than Bunce Island, the Western Peninsula, Tiwai Island and Outamba Kilimi, a point that was confirmed in a September 2006 meeting with Cecil Williams, National Tourism Board director. 3 See findings of research and recommendations on this topic in Annex 1

This paper lays out the policies, protocols, and procedures that need to be considered in the next 3 years to both protect and develop Bunce Island, Tiwai Island, Outamba Kilimi and the Western Peninsula as tourism destinations. In addition, this updated paper will include other areas that show potential for sustainable tourism. Best-practice establishes that the process for carrying out the development of sustainable tourism in sites such as Bunce Island, a cultural heritage site, or protected areas such as Outamba Kilimi and Tiwai Island are somewhat similar. It requires clear authority ownership and management over the site by either a government or non-governmental body. This entity should have the responsibility to develop strategies on (1) site management and preservation, (2) public use planning, (3) and commercialization. This paper recommends that the Government of Sierra Leone retain ownership of these tourism assets. However, given the lack of government capacity to preserve and develop these sites in Sierra Leone, this report finds several advantages of having a specialist non-governmental entity take charge of their management and development. Specialist NGOs are more likely to have the international counterparts in cultural or environmental heritage conservation. This will allow them to apply for financial and technical assistance, and have the capacity in the long-term to care for these sites during this period of strengthening of governmental institutions. In terms of commercialization, this paper further finds that to promote investment in the tourism industry, there is a strong need for the Government of Sierra Leone to review legislation and create a concession policy. Concessions will enable the government to legally and transparently provide the private sector with the opportunity to develop government protected zones for tourism, while ensuring these areas are properly utilized, and at the same time generate revenue for the government without requiring the government to be involved in for-profit enterprises. This paper also finds that the Western Peninsula deserves a special planning regimen that will create an orderly development process which will respect and allow local communities to participate, attract the type of investment that will lead to a value-added form of tourism development, protect the natural resources of the area, and prevent a spiral of over-development, land degradation, and low-end tourism development. In short, eco-tourism is another niche of tourism that requires attention and as the industry dictates, it is at our countrys peril to ignore. The complete paper propounds a draft action plan for the development of Sierra Leone primary tourism assets. And it will also speak to the need of an ecotourism awareness that will culminate into a conference for West Africa to be held in Sierra Leone in the near future so we can become pace-setters with regard to the development of this trend being enjoyed by so many other nations today. That Sierra Leone has a haven of ecotourism experiences that need to be developed is an understatement; and once implemented, the proposed conference will bring about much needed development in the tourism industry and will open doors for responsible tourism in Sierra Leone, which will encapsulate a booming tourism industry for our beleaguered country.