Private support needed in tourism sector

Daily Graphic, pg. 14. Friday, May 22/09

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

THE Minister for Tourism, Ms Juliana Azumah-Mensah, has called on the private sector to partner the ministry host this year’s World Tourism Day (WTD) which falls on September 27, to enable the country’s tourism industry gain international recognition.
According to her, since this was the first time an African country had been given the opportunity to host the celebration, there was the need for all stakeholders to come together to support the ministry put up an impressive performance.
The 30th edition of the WTD, which was expected to attract hundreds of foreign tourists into the country, would be held on the theme “Tourism, celebrating diversity”.
The annual celebration is often used in fostering awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural and economic values.
At the media launch of the event in Accra, Ms Azumah-Mensah stated that since the occasion was a rare opportunity to Ghana, it was an opportune time for Ghana to market itself to the international world.
She said Ghana offered a wide range of unique and exciting natural, cultural and historical resources which when well developed and packaged with the support of all stakeholders, should bring some transformation in the national economy in general and the local economies in particular.
“The challenge is to assert our resolve to work closely with all our partners including both public and private tourism related sectors as well as district assemblies and the communities to plan and showcase what Ghana has to offer to the world,” she stated.
In Ghana, tourism is the number four foreign exchange earner and attracts about 600,000 visitors annually.
In 2008, the sector created over 300,000 jobs both directly and indirectly, and generated more than $1 billion income for the country.
According to Ms Azumah-Mensah, there was the need for Ghanaians to be reminded of the positive impact of tourism in terms of foreign exchange earnings, employment and income generation, as well as conservation of biodiversity and also for poverty reduction.
The minister stated that although tourism in most countries were being hit by the world economic downturn, “it is important for Ghana to continue to improve its potentials and use the celebration to tell the whole world that we are ready to bounce back from the world’s recession.”
She, therefore, called on the media to help in educating the public about tourism in order to shape their thinking to promote the positive image of the country as a tourism destination.
The Chief Director of the Ministry of Tourism, Mrs Bridget Katsriku who chaired the function, said the ministry had drawn up a policy which had decentralised tourism to enable the district assemblies to take charge of the operations of tourist sites.
That, according to her, was aimed at promoting effective management of these sites as well as ensuring that the assemblies identify and develop more sites in their localities.
She said the policy would also ensure that tour guards were given proper training to ensure professionalism to improve on their efficiency.
Mrs Katsriku also said since tourism was influenced by the environment and the attitude of people, there was also the need for Ghanaians to be educated on how to keep their environment clean and maintain good relations with visitors.
The Chairman of the National Planning Committee of the WTD, Mr Charles Osei-Bonsu said as part of the preparations towards the occasion, which sought to firmly secure Ghana’s position on the world tourism map as a major tourism destination, a comprehensive programme had been drawn to spread the celebration of the event nationwide.
He said the event would kick-start with a pre-event tour of all the 10 regions of the country from September 1 to 26 and would be interspersed with conferences, exhibitions, food fairs, an orientation and tours for some foreign and selected local journalists and travel writers.