Barbara Oteng-Gyasi
Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture, Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, has indicated that increased travel to Ghana through the ‘Year of Return’ initiative has benefitted the Ghanaian private sector immensely.
She made this known at the Ministry of Information Meet-The-Press Series on Thursday, December 19, 2019 in Accra.
The purpose of the Meet-The-Press encounter was to enable the Tourism Minister to review the performance of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture, outline the ministry’s projects and programmes line-up for the ensuing year and discuss efforts at creating a conducive environment for the promotion of the sector in the country.
According to her, the increased number of travellers in Ghana has positively impacted private sector industries such as airlines, hotels, tour operators, restaurants, arts and crafts dealers and others.
For example, she said apart from the major hotels which have 100 per cent occupancy for the month of December, the Art Centre merchants have confirmed increased sales compared to the same time last year.
The minister disclosed that tour operators have also increased bookings for tours to areas with a linkage to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade such as Cape Coast and Elmina.
“The ‘Year of Return’ initiative revolutionised Ghana’s tourism sector and has projected the country significantly,” she said, adding that “the Cable News Network (CNN) travel news report for 2019 placed Ghana as the fourth best destination to visit out of 19 countries.”
“The country recorded a remarkable increase of 237,088 airport travels as of the third quarter of 2019, representing a 45 per cent increase over the previous year,” she stated.
Mrs. Oteng-Gyasi added, “These successes chalked calls for putting sustainability measures in place to build on the sector’s achievements to continue to attract tourists and investments into Ghana. The event has been covered domestically and internationally over 1,000 times by television, print, radio, and online media sources. Key international outlets that have featured Ghana include CNN, BBC, AL-JAZEERA, SABC, Essence Magazine, Ebony Magazine, etc.”
BY Melvin Tarlue