By: Kobina Baidoo // @BaidooWrites
Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr. Ibrahim Muhammed Awal has indicated that revenue gained from the tourism sector cannot make nationwide impact without the patronage of domestic tourism by Ghanians.
At a Stakeholder Engagement Forum organized by the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture on Wednesday at the W.E.B Du Bois Centre, the minister stated that the amount of money spent by Ghanaians in other countries during vacations could boost the government’s Gross Domestic Product if spent in Ghana.
According to research results provided by Dr. Awal, Ghanaians within the years of 2021 and 2022 spent huge sums of money on vacations outside the country. “I did a research last year and the year before, Ghanaians spent $8 million dollars just on holiday to Dubai and Europe.”
He therefore encouraged all tourism stakeholders to work towards changing the perception carried by Ghanaians about domestic tourism by improving customer service and promote the creation of sites that have the potential of attracting tourists which in turn would make earnings for the country. “It’s a mindset issue; let’s help make our sites more attractive; let’s enhance the delivery of our services and if we do this we would retain our people.” he indicated.
He added that a thriving domestic tourism sector is a pillar that would surely hold Ghana’s economy together and touted it as ‘the best way to build an economy’. “This $8 million that was spent by our people in other countries, can be spent here in Ghana, when they stay back where they buy everything Ghana made; that is how to build an economy; you cannot build an economy on exclusively foreign capital, you have to also build on Ghanaian competence and expertise.”
The Stakeholder Engagement Forum was organized by the ministry to inform stakeholders about the initiatives that were undertaken by the Ghana Tourism Authority and projects that have been endorsed to primarily boost tourist visits to Ghana and patronage of tourist sites by Ghanaians.
