Accounts of the Tourism Development Fund
Sections 19 and 20 on accounts and audit and annual report and other reports apply to the fund.
…Let’s sanitise the national tourism legal framework.
Act 817 is flawful; it cannot drive national tourism development aspiration.
Laws are important documents which are enacted to promote and ensure orderliness in society and or specified industries or professions, however, they are not sacrosanct but work in progress documents which are amenable and amended periodically to keep them in tune with the changes of the times and or best industry practices.
Act 817
Act 817, 2011 is one such piece of legislation and the most current legislation that controls and regulates the country’s tourism sector and the conduct of tourism business as a whole in the country.
Ghana Tourism Authority
It repealed SMCD 8O, 1977 and created the Ghana Tourism Authority, (GTA), which replaced the erstwhile Ghana Tourist Board as the national tourism regulator.
The law received presidential assent on 16th May 2011 on our national statues and effectively created the GTA to replace the erstwhile GTB.
One key factor that motivated the promulgation of Act 817 was the fragmentation of tourism resources among different ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the country.
Unaddressed fragmented regime
Act 817 did bring identified strategic tourism resources but are not captured in the national tourism framework, for example, the wildlife sector on board.
However, strangely, the law did not go further to merge important and strategic but fragmented tourism institutions such as the National Commission on Culture, (NCC), Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, (GMMB) and the Wildlife Division (WD) into a single unified stronger and powerful Tourism Development Commission to address past duplication challenges.
Act 817 is retrogressive
SMCD 80 created a 13-member governing board for the erstwhile GTB but Act 817 strangely provided for an 11-member governing board.
Flaws
Furthermore, culture is an important tourism subsector which also doubled as the biggest unique tourism selling point (USP) and for that matter an essential component of an attractive, vibrant and sustainable tourism development evolution.
PNDCL 238, 1990 is another piece of legislation that creates the parametres and regulates the country’s tourism sector. It created the National Commission on Culture (NCC) as the statutory national cultural regulator. The law provided for a 15-member governing board for the NCC.
The Commission has also no representation on GTA Board as another omission and error by Act 817.
Also without representation on the GTA Board is the Ghana Export Promotion Authority.
Additionally, traditional authorities and or National House of Chiefs, the custodians of our cultural heritage, more so have no representation on the GTA Board, per Act 817.
Omissions
The MDAs which are all key in building an attractive, strong and a very vibrant tourism industry are omitted on the GTA Board.
They include the Local Government Service, (LGS), National Association of Local Authorities, Ministries of Trade and Industry, Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Roads and Highways and Transport also are not currently represented on the GTA Board as provided by Act 817.
Other errors
Act 817, 2011 again omitted representation of the following ministries and agencies on the GTA Board. Currently, they include ministries of Interior, Aviation, Transport, Youth & Sports, Information, Health and Communication all are omitted on the GTA Board.
Taxes are imposed by the state. Also, government /state is constitutionally and legally obliged to brand and market the country in terms of tourism.
GTA Board must and should be chaired by the Local Government Service or a distinguished traditional ruler.
Way forward
An in-depth and cursory examination of Act 817 revealed some defects in the law which must be rectified with the appropriate amendments to be in tune with industry trends and best industry practices.
Act 817 was enacted nine years ago, specifically since May 2011. When it came into effect, a lot of water passed under the bridge during its application and usage. Let us, therefore, take pragmatic steps to review the law probably on its 10th anniversary to address the above-noted flaws in it as well as improve upon the overall national tourism legislative regime and framework to drive national tourism development aspiration as an outstanding model destination hub.
States or governments are obliged and responsible for branding and marketing of destinations by enacting very relevant and pro-business relevant legislations whilst the private sector packages and promotes these destinations to attract the needed traffic and eventually elevate these destinations into prominent destination hubs and brands, public-private partnership is therefore important in successful destination evolution.
Background
Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) began its life’s journey specifically on 16th May 2011 when the Tourism Act 2011, Act 817 came into effect and the authority seamlessly took over the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile regulator, the GTB.
The writer is an ex-District Chief Executive, Kwahu South District Assembly, Mpraeso. He is also a senior partner at Tropical Architects & Planners, 26/2 Momotse Street, Adabraka, Accra.