Akwasi Agyemang
The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has launched the maiden Women In Tourism Summit & Awards to promote women’s economic empowerment in tourism through partnerships to encourage gender equality using tourism as a tool.
The summit, which is on the theme: ‘Driving Ghanaian Women Empowerment Through Tourism’, is to help bridge the gap between men and women employed in the tourism sector.
It was launched by Bridget Katsriku, a former chief director of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture.
The event which is being organised by the GTA under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture and in partnership with African Tourism Partners (ATP) will take place on June 21 at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).
Launching the event, Mrs Katsriku said the summit is important at this time because tourism is one of the world’s largest and fast growing industries providing a lot of opportunities for women to gain access to jobs and income-generating activities.
Mrs Kastriku, who is also the immediate past chairman of the Public Service Commission, indicated that the summit would also facilitate improvement in entrepreneurship through knowledge sharing regarding accessibility to funds, and other resources to support women’s enterprises.
“The cardinal principles of women in tourism are to inspire, motivate, encourage and support women across the sector while advocating greater gender balance in leadership roles in the industry. It is also to give women the voice to articulate their rights as women and collectively demand change in the industry that would be more beneficial to them,” she stated.
The Chief Executive Officer of GTA, Akwasi Agyemang, on his part, added that the summit would focus on the need for women to be recognised for their contribution towards the growth and development of the industry, as well as the opportunity for them to connect with one another, share ideas and learn from best practices while encouraging business linkages.
“We have women engaged in several businesses in tourism; restaurants, handicrafts, hospitality and what we call the medium size enterprises. So it is important that we find a way to empower them, whether through financial intervention, training or whether through capacity building and others,” he maintained.