The Sierra Leone Guide to Prevention of Tourism Mark Weston
March 1, 2010 | More on Africa, Economics and development | 10 comments
When I arrived in Sierra Leone six weeks ago and encountered its friendly people, spectacular beaches, lively nightlife and mysterious traditions, I wondered why the country has so few tourists (in our six weeks we have met a total of three, with three or four other possible but unconfirmed sightings).
It didn’t take long to find out. A nation that should be eager to attract tourists seems to be making systematic efforts to keep them out. If you were trying to make it as difficult as possible for foreigners to visit your country, I could recommend the following measures, which all work brilliantly for Sierra Leone:
- Charge an exorbitant sum for visas (£50 for a month, compared to, say, £10 for three months in Turkey, a much more tourist-friendly destination)
- Make obtaining the visa more complicated than for any of your neighbours by forcing applicants to produce a letter of invitation from a Sierra Leone national
- Encourage customs officials in the airport to be as surly as possible, and fail to punish them for extracting bribes from new arrivals for performing the simplest of procedures
- Build your airport thirty miles away from the capital city, on the opposite side of a giant river mouth, forcing visitors to cross either by helicopter, which regularly crashes, or ferry, which often breaks down or sinks. Make sure, too, that the ferry departure times do not coincide with incoming flights, so that your visitors will have to wait for hours in the burning sun (you will of course already have ensured there is no shade at the dock)
- Allow dozens of hustlers to converge on new arrivals as they exit the airport, giving preference to pickpockets and con merchants
- Refuse to harness the torrential rain in the rainy season to provide water and electricity to visitors at any time of year. This will ensure they cannot take respite from the heat with the help of fans, cold drinks, air-conditioning or showers. It will also mean restaurants and food stores will be unable to refrigerate food, thereby increasing the risk that your visitor will fall sick
- In the event that he does fall sick, make sure you spend none of the billiions of pounds of aid you receive on building effective hospitals or recruiting competent doctors to treat him
- Make your public transport system as slow and uncomfortable as possible, by failing to maintain vehicles so that they break down often, waiting until they are full before departing hours behind schedule, and packing two people into seats designed for one
- Enhance the effect of the above by allowing roads paid for by foreign donors to deteriorate and then failing to fill in the hundreds of resultant potholes
- Should a tourist somehow manage to shrug off these obstacles and apply for a visa extension (you have no psychiatric hospitals to house him, of course), redouble your efforts to force him out. To do this, hire the least friendly, most corrupt people to work in your immigration department. Extort money from your visitor for a visa extension that is officially free, then smile smugly at his distress
- As a final punishment for having the cheek to visit your country despite all your efforts to stop him, charge the departing, browbeaten tourist a £50 airport tax
NB: For foreign investors, multiply your efforts tenfold.
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I experienced a similar thing in Tanzania (although admittedly not as bad). Why do these governments make it so difficult for visitors? I’d be really interested to see if anything has been written on this.
I really don’t know that this is fair (although maybe I did get lucky). A resounding yes to the airport/situation disaster. And yes to sternly checking for yellow fever certificates even when not required. But I got a visa easily with a printed email from a british friend who lives in Salone as a letter, I find the public transport system within the penisula great and loved the podapodas.
Yes I will concede the roads point… although there are bizarre stretches of several miles of beautiful tarmac-ed roads for no apparent reason in the middle of nowhere in the south-west “upcountry.” The electricity point is only partly true, particularly in light of the new dam that’s been ten years in the making just opening last September and promising and end to power outs… and then electricity being off again now. BUT, it’s hardly primarily an inconvenience for tourists (ditto the hospitals). Basha (my favourite restaurant) and the fancy places along Lumley beach seem to do just fine for expensive expat food with a generator.
I had a great trip to Sierra Leone, no more hastle than I’ve experienced in many other places. And if it’s relevant, I’m as clearly foreign, and clueless, and hopeless at Krio as any other hapless tourist.
It’s outrageous. I cannot understand why those Sierra Leonians insist on living there.
This is not only unfair but also inaccurate.
- People often complain about visas being expensive, well compared to other countries maybe. However, rightly or wrongly international diplomatic representatives need these funds for their operational activities, so I don’t expect the fees to be dramatically reduced any time soon. Some countries are gratis, but obviously not yours. For the records, it’s very difficult to enter countries like UK or US, granted Sierra Leone is not UK or US – but its not Turkey either.
- I don’t know what the visitor requirements are for neighbouring countries, but I know Guinea is no piece of cake. People find this online application easy:
http://www.visitsierraleone.org/Services/Visas-and-Entry-Requirements/Visa-Application-Form.html
- Regarding the airport. I agree, it’s chaotic and I hate it. There’s no need for so many people hanging around. The sad thing is it doesn’t take much to correct that but its been this way for a while. There is new management for ground operations, maybe it will make a difference.
- Regarding transfers – again, inaccurate and dramatic. There have been helicopter crashes in the past, yes. But this is a separate company with a clean record so far and much better crafts. It is expensive yes, but it’s the quickest. There are now at least FIVE different options to get to Freetown with. Helicopter, THREE boat services (Sea Coach, Allied Marine and Eco Taxi), and the good old ferry. You could also use a speedboat, though few people want to pay for that. The airport is on the other side of the river. the sooner we all get used to that the better. The problem is not with the location but with the transfer links, but there has been significant improvements in this area.
- It is FREE to extend your visitor’s visa. You should have insisted if you knew this to be the case. I have found the immigration office to be a lot friendlier than in the past years.
- The road network is being worked on and improving significantly. The road to Kenema is now fully tarmacked, Kambia is being worked on, so too the peninsula stretch and soon the road from the airport.
- Power is much much better these days.
- The only flights that you have to pay airport tax at the airport are the regional flights for example Arik. Even then it’s $40 not £50.
Frankly, Sierra Leone is no Turkey, Spain or Bahamas. It is still a work in progress and I expect things to improve. PLEASE do your research before coming so you know what you’re getting yourself into. There are people who enjoy going to places before it’s overrun with tourists and there are those who want the conveniences of a well run and oiled tourist industry. Sierra Leone is not the latter but we are trying.
What do you expect? It’s one of the poorest countries in the world, which was ravaged by a civil war that ended less than a decade ago.
The kind of tourist who wants to go is the kind who is up for a bit of adventure. When I worked there, friends of mine came in that vein and had a fantastic time. This is an odd article (for foreign investors I take the point, but again that’s hardly unusual).
Also – the helicopter doesn’t ‘regularly crash’, there has been one crash in the last five years.
This sounds a little bit like astronauts complaining because there wasn’t much air on the moon.
Just a quick update and some answers to the above: for Senegal, for example, you don’t need a visa at all, let alone have to pay so much for one. The electricity supply in Freetown (the capital of a country rich in diamonds, gold, bauxite etc etc)is anaemic (out in Lumley they have generators). The departure tax is due to go up to $65 this month.
And I’m not complaining about the country itself (although most Sierra Leoneans I met did). It’s a beautiful place and a great adventure. But if it wants to develop tourism (and it should), it is going about it in the wrong way. Oh, and I realise everything’s much more difficult for Sierra Leoneans, but this post was about tourism.
Sierra Leone is filty and the gutters stink so badly that you can not breath. Stop fooling people that it is a lovely place to visit no !!no
no it is not .Why don"t we face the reality by keeping the Country clean to monimise the mosiquitoes and flies before even thinking of anything to do with tourism be real for once.
Because it's home. Nowhere is perfect and I'm sure if given the choice no one would choose to live and experience aspects of our country. But this is the reality and someday things will change.
I appreciate the concern which is been rose. The things need to be
sorted out because it is about the individual but it can be with
everyone. 0 The above thought is smart and doesn’t require any further addition.
It’s perfect thought from my side.
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I was watching BLood Diamond yesterday and saw the carnage in Sierra Leone. So the tourists WANT to come but the government wont let them. It is so disheartening that African governments are holding their people back like that. How else do they expect the economies to prosper?