The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has charged stakeholders in the country’s tourism industry to rally behind efforts by government and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts to make domestic tourism more attractive, profitable and create more jobs for the youth.
According to the authority, the COVID-19 pandemic had proven to be a blessing in disguise as it had justified the need to develop local tourism, so “we can be proud of our own, patronise same and spread the word for others in the diaspora to come see what we have.”
“It is time for us to make Ghana the place for domestic tourism and investment in progress and prosperity, and discourage the situation where our youth flee this country in the hope of accessing the proverbial greener pastures, or for a better life in Europe or the Americas,” Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Technical Services at GTA, Mr Ekow Sampson stated at the 10th anniversary of Roots Hospitality International at Osu in Accra last Friday.
He called on traditional authorities, district and municipal assemblies, heads of departments and agencies, the private sector and the media to partner the ministry and its agencies to make domestic tourism attractive and the foremost choice of every Ghanaian.
Mr Sampson observed that tourism was one of the fastest growing sectors of the Ghanaian economy with linkages to various sectors, providing employment to several young people and creating an avenue for national development.
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“In the face of stiff competition with other destinations in Africa and the world at large, it is imperative that we do things right to attract the needed tourists to Ghana in order to rake in the substantial foreign exchange and also derive the full benefits of the ‘Beyond the Return’ project,” he stated.
Mr Sampson noted that GTA’s domestic tourism campaign, dubbed ‘See Ghana, Eat Ghana, Wear Ghana and Feel Ghana’, which was premised on developing and consuming our own was helping to showcase “our Made-in-Ghana products out there to the local and international diasporan community in terms of our cuisine, dance, fashion and music.”
“This will offer us the opportunity to develop our local tourism as it will ultimately pull the diasporans into the country to experience and celebrate Ghana through our tourism, arts and culture industry,” he added.
To whip up the interest of Ghanaians in local tourist sites, the Authority launched the Travel, Snap and Win initiative that encouraged Ghanaians to share their experiences of the tourist attractions they visited.
The GTA in recent times has stepped up conscientious effort to draw tourists to our attractions at this crucial moment of our national life by launching another initiative, dubbed ‘Let’s Tour Ghana’, to promote domestic tourism. Other initiatives included the Stay Home Know Ghana, Stay Home Discover Ghana, Ghana Gurus, among others.
Speaking about the 10 years of operation of Roots Hotel Apartment, Chief Executive Officer of Roots Hospitality International, Mr Hussein Fakhry said he fell in love with the Osu community and environment a decade ago and decided to put up the Roots apartment.
“Because I have lived all my life in the city, I connected directly to Osu and I felt it was the place where something great could happen so I decided to put my investment here,” Mr Fakhry told guests.
Source: Isaac AIDOO || The Finder, Accra