Catherine Afeku
‘CNN And Be Ghana’, a video documentary on Ghana’s slave castles which aired on CNN’s programme, Inside Africa, has been described by industry players as a hit.
In the one month that the video went on air globally, it was viewed by 5,416,000 people, many of whom watched it more than once during the month.
The documentary is part of a campaign by the government of Ghana to market the country as a tourism destination.
The campaign, an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture, was on air from June 11 to August 5, this year.
It was a package that also included a 15-second teaser digital campaign on CNNMoney.com and extensive editorial coverage of Ghana’s cocoa industry on CNN’s Marketplace Africa.
A transmission certificate presented to the ministry by CNN to confirm the statistics revealed that the slave castle documentary reached 2,124,000 viewers classified as ‘frequent international travelers’ and 1,533,000 ‘frequent leisure travelers’, in addition to others worldwide.
Catherine Abelema Afeku, the sector minister, disclosed the content of the transmission certificate to the Ghanaian media in Accra at the weekend and further disclosed that said the teaser digital campaign received 214,691 impressions with 7,801 clicks in the United States of America; 215,150 impressions with 6,543 clicks in Europe and 214,672 impressions with 5,626 clicks in Africa.
The 30-minute television documentary focuses on the Elmina castle. In it, CNN’s cameras follow the journey of a man who gave his name as Bartels, a diaspora African. After years of searching, he had traced his roots to Elmina and wanted to see and hear at first-hand what his ancestors went through from capture to shipment to the Americas.
Asked to predict the expected outcome of this investment which cost the ministry some US$200,000.00, Mrs Afeku said the government’s expectations went beyond financial returns.
“Yes, we need the diasporan Africans to come in their numbers. In fact, I have told myself as Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture that 20,000 tourist arrivals from North America is not enough. We need in excess of one million African Americans to respond and come to Ghana.”
However, she added, “It is not necessarily for their money as tourists. It is more important for us that they come as returnees on a journey of discovery.”
Mrs Afeku thanked President Akufo-Addo for the attention tourism is receiving under his presidency, remarking that Ghana’s bold ambitions would come to naught without the financial wherewithal.
“Don’t forget that it is under his presidency that tourism has received the highest budgetary allocation in a very a long while,” she added.
Industry players were impressed by the quantum of investment in the campaign by ministry, as well as the innovative use of powerful images on CNN.