The Gambia has been a tourist destination for many decades, since the early 1960's. Toursim has grown steadily and today forms a vital part of The Gambia's GDP. It was expected that in 2007 the Gambia tourism industry will create nearly $134 million US Dollars of total economic activity in demand. It is predicted that in the same year it will real terms expand by 3.7% and to continue growing annually after that at a rate of about 3.8%. It is further predicted to account for 17.6% of total Gross Domestic Product and 14.5% of the employment total i.e. 85,000 jobs or 1 in every 7 jobs.

Investment is continuing and is rapidly transforming The Gambia into one of the most sought after Emerging Property Market (EPM) locations.

The Gambia’s tourist industry is a growing source of foreign exchange; the country hosted 91,000 visitors in 1998.

The Tourism Masterplan  2007 - published through The Gambian Tourist Authority (GTA) , presents a clear standard of how tourism is to be developed within the Country, with responsible tourism being top of the agenda. The country has been careful to avoid the mistakes made by the likes of Spain and has kept hotel heights down and emphasized an African style exterior for buildings while allowing for European style interiors with an African accent. Great efforts are made by ASSET, who are an association who promote responsible tourism practices, to help reduce the negative effects of mass tourism on such a small country.

The Gambia's tourism industry receives over 100,000 visitors a year and is the second highest earner of foreign revenue. Tourists mainly come from Europe with package tour operators from UK making up over 50% of visitors. The remaining number of visitors arriving from Germany, Norway, Sweden & other countries. It is estimated that around 44 per cent of high season (winter) tourists are repeat visitors to the country.

The Gambia tourism industry is ranked 168 in the world in terms of absolute size, 122 in long-term growth measured over 10 years and 38 in its relative contribution to other nation's economies.

The number of beds had to increase from 162 in 1965/66 to 390 in 1970/71. This number grew to 856 in 1971/ 72, 1,802 in 1974/75. The number of hotels increased from 1 in 1954 to 2 in 1965, 13 in 1972/73 and over 40 currently. By 1993/94, there were over 6,000 bed spaces. By 2005 the total stock of hotel beds in Gambia stood at 7,000 with 3,000 rooms and growing with new 5 Star luxury hotels(Deloitte).

However, this influx of visitors did not materialise into direct foreign tourism investment which still left the country relying on peanuts as a foreign exchange earner. The government under the then President Jawara was eager to find alternatives to groundnuts as a foreign exchange earner and wanted to exploit tourisms potential. As a result, in 1970, the idea of the TDA (Tourism Development Area) was born which designated a 1,000 metre length of beach area going inland from Kololi to Kartong for tourist development. This meant that no residential properties could be built their. (This is the reason why so many property buyers are confused as to why they cannot buy a house on the beach). The government soon saw the real potential of this new industry and began to offer incentives to would-be investors in the form of tax duty waivers and tax holidays.