Maame Efua Sekyi-Aidoo Houadjeto
Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Mrs. Maame Efua Sekyi-Aidoo Houadjeto, has revealed her outfit’s intentions to start a ‘Tourism Police’ initiative at various tourist sites and attractions.
According to the GTA boss, the initiative will help keep Ghana’s sites and attractions clean, as well as train local tour guides to ensure good tourism service delivery.
This call to action by the GTA was in reaction to a viral video that surfaced online showing a local tour guide allegedly extorting money from a tourist in the Jamestown area in Accra.
Following a visit to Jamestown, Independence Arch, and Laboma Beach to interact with some tour guides, the CEO stressed the urgent need to train the local tour guides who engage these tourists regularly.
“The local tour guides are doing well, and we want to encourage their self-volunteerism, but I think we need to guide them to ensure proper service delivery.
“Since we are regulators in the industry, it is important we initiate these steps to correct the wrongs at the grassroots of our tourism sector.
“In the following weeks, we are going to launch the ‘Tourism Police’ to help solve the sanitation issues at our tourist sites, especially the beaches, which is one of our key tourism products,” she said.
Mrs. Houadjeto rallied the support of all tourism stakeholders to ensure the effective use of ‘Tourism Police’ in cleaning tourist sites and educating tourists about Ghana’s heritage.
Mr. Gilbert Abeiku Aggrey Santana, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of GTA, lauded Madam Houadjeto’s zeal of going to the grassroots of the tourism sector to know some of the challenges.
“I want to laud the CEO for visiting some tourism sites to identify the challenges, so that we can address them to help improve tourism service delivery.
“The ‘Tourism Police’ would be a key component in changing the face of our tourism, especially at the grassroots, as we provide them with training on how to engage tourists,” he said.
Abeiku Santana also stressed that keeping the beachfront alive the whole day aligns with President John Mahama’s 24-hour vision, adding that stakeholders in the tourism sector would play a crucial role to make it a success.
GNA