Biography
Adama Bah has over 40 years of experience in the tourism industry in The Gambia and other West African countries.
He spent more than 25 years in operational roles within The Gambia’s hotel industry, most recently as Deputy General Manager, where he was responsible for hotel operations and human resources. Following this, he transitioned into tourism and management consultancy, beginning with a DFID-funded pro-poor tourism project and later working as a business development and management consultant in The Gambia, including on the Agriculture-to-Tourism Linkages Project.
In West Africa, he has worked as a consultant in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Liberia. Internationally, he is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Responsible Tourism Day events at the World Travel Market (WTM) and serves as a judge at the Global Responsible Tourism Awards (WTM London), the India Responsible Tourism Awards, and the Africa Responsible Tourism Awards.
In 2004, Adama Bah won the Responsible Tourism Award at WTM London, in the category “Best Person Who Has Contributed the Most in Responsible Tourism.”
From 2006 to 2013, he served as Local Coordinator for the Travel Foundation, during which he designed and managed various community tourism linkage projects in The Gambia.
Adama is the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Travel and Tourism of The Gambia (ITTOG). He is widely recognized as an international advocate for responsible tourism, having worked and shared his experiences in numerous countries.
In 2005, he inspired the creation of “People and Places” in the UK and collaborated with them to design a responsible volunteering social enterprise model, which places volunteers in The Gambia, Cambodia, Madagascar, Peru, and South Africa.
As an Associate Member of the International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Adama has been a speaker at global forums on responsible tourism, notably in India, Brazil, Canada, the UK, South Africa, Spain, Belize, and more.
He has also collaborated with his alma mater, Leeds Beckett University, for many years to provide scholarships to African professionals pursuing an MSc in Responsible Tourism Development, funded through the Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship Scheme. To date, over 100 African tourism professionals have benefitted from this program.
In July 2019, Leeds Beckett University awarded Adama Bah an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of his lifelong dedication to responsible tourism in The Gambia and internationally.
