News:
Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum
November 16, 2021
Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture Mohammed Awal said the Ministry through its implementing Agency, the Ghana Tourism Authority has refocused its attention on domestic tourism by putting the following measures in place.
A domestic tourism campaign was launched by His Excellency the President on 1st June, 2021 to create awareness on the need for Ghanaians to patronize our tourist and attraction sites.
The campaign dubbed “ExperienceGhana, ShareGhana” is on-going. A Travel, Share and Win component of the campaign was also initiated to drive the Experience Ghana, Share Ghana domestic tourism.
Discover, write and win promotion is about to start. The public is required to select a tourist site or a must-see activity in their communities and write about it in such a way that it would attract visitors for tourism purpose.
Additionally, promotional materials, brochures, leaflet have also been printed and distributed across regional offices to boast domestic tourism.
Tourist Clubs have been formed across the Tertiary institutions, Senior and Junior High Schools through our partnership with the Tourism Society of Ghana (TOUSOGHA) to promote domestic tourism and encourage excursions to major tourist and attraction sites.
GTA, Tour Operators Union of Ghana (TOUGHA) and Ghana Hotels Association, he said are collaborating to package tours at affordable rates to various tourist sites. Already, TOUGHA has organized Familiarization (FAM) tours to Central, Ashanti, Volta and Western Regions to acquaint themselves to the current state of tourist sites in the country.
He said a tourist bus (Coach) has been acquired by GTA to promote City Tours starting from Accra. This is to be replicated in major cities in Ghana. So far, several people have patronized the Accra City Tour. We expect patronage to go up significantly during the Christmas holidays.
The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture is currently embarking on tourist sites upgrades through the provision of visitor receptive facilities, toilet, landscaping, and parking spaces to enhance visitor experience and encourage repeat visits to the tourist sites. So far, the following sites have been upgraded:
Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm and Exhibition Centre
Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary and Cultural Village
Anomabu Heritage Site
Nzulezu Visitor Facility
The following sites are to be upgraded soon. o Yaa Asantewaa Heritage Museum Rehabilitation
Project, Ejisu Pikworo Heritage and Slave Market Bonwire Kente Museum, Aburi Botanical Garden
Zenga Crocodile Pond, Paga Salaga Slave Market Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum
Craft Village upgrades.
Mr. Mohammed Awal indicated that domestic tourism arrival which plummeted from over 669,000 in 2019 to slightly over 200, 0000 in 2020, has been increasing since the domestic promotion campaign. The total domestic tourism arrivals during the first half of this year was 353,087, this is bound to increase significantly during the last quarter of the year.
This came to light when Member of Parliament for Kwadaso, Dr. Kingsley Nyarko wanted to know from the sector Minster measure put in place to promote and increase domestic tourism.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com