Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, Tourism Minister
The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has launched this year’s edition of the Kwahu Easter Paragliding Festival scheduled to take place from April 10 to April 13 at Mpraeso in the Kwahu South District of the Eastern Region.
The Kwahu Easter Paragliding Festival which is an annual celebration being organized by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture in collaboration with GTA and the chiefs and people of Okwahuman, will bring together family and friends from the Diaspora as well as indigenes of Okwahuman to have fun and experience the rich cultural and tourism sites within the Kwahu enclave.
This year’s event is on the theme “Flying beyond the return.”
Speaking at the launch of the event, Mr Ekow Sampson, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Operations of GTA announced that the cost for flying during this year’s paragliding festival would be GH¢500.00.
He said this year’s event, which was the 15th edition, promised to be an exciting one as other interesting packages including health and fitness walk, spin and win, food court and tours had been added to enhance the experience during the festival.
According to him, the festival introduced in 2005 had helped tremendously to improve domestic tourism, which was one of the mandates of the GTA, thus creating job opportunities, increased revenue and enhanced national cohesion.
“Research conducted by the GTA in 2019 indicated that average daily expenditure during the festival was above GH¢50.00 per person. It also indicated 28 per cent stayed in hotels, 11 per cent stayed in guest houses, three per cent stayed through air bag and 43 per cent stayed in private homes,” he added.
Nana Anum, speaking on behalf of the Chief of Mpraeso, expressed appreciation to the GTA for the consistency in organizing the event annually, saying that this year’s edition will be a stress free one as work was seriously ongoing on the road network leading to the site.
The annual paragliding festival is one of the flagship event initiated by the GTA to coincide with the annual Kwahu Easter in order to attract both domestic and international tourists during the festive season.