President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has launched the “Destination Ghana” tourism project with the aim of promoting Ghana as a preferred leisure destination and driving more receipts from the sector for national development. The project, which is a set of innovative activities that would be rolled out in series, is aimed at attracting a million tourists from the United Kingdom, Europe, and the rest of the world to Ghana annually. It seeks to build on the success of Ghana’s landmark 2019 “Year of Return” campaign, which brought the back diaspora to the country to mark the 400th year of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to Jamestown, Virginia, and established Ghana on the global map as a key tourism destination.
At a ceremony in London, President Akufo-Addo noted that with the slow but steady recovery being witnessed in the tourism sector after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in nature-based adventure and leisure tourism had grown, offering new opportunities to visitors. He emphasized that Ghana possessed “an abundance of these offerings, and that is what we are here to present to the world, using our historical connection with the United Kingdom as a launchpad.”
The President highlighted that the tourism industry offered a great avenue to deepen Ghana-Britain relations for the mutual benefit of the two countries. He also pointed out that Ghana was not only gifted with a rich culture but was also the best place for doing business in West Africa, and the safest and most stable country in the region. The President believed that the tourism and hospitality industry could be turned into a major tool for the positive transformation of the Ghanaian economy and a win-win situation for investors.
President Akufo-Addo indicated that Ghana had embarked on a product improvement plan over the last few years, where several tourist sites in the country are currently undergoing site renovations. These include the Aburi Botanical Gardens, the Yaa Asantewaa Memorial Museum, and the Kente Museum, among others. He revealed that this year, some $25 million would be expended to upgrade some iconic sites in Ghana, including the famous Elmina and Cape Coast Castles, the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, and cultural museums in various regions, under the Ghana Tourism Development Project, supported by the World Bank. The President also highlighted that funds would be directly injected into supporting SMEs in the hospitality and beverage sector.
President Akufo-Addo challenged the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture and its agencies to ride on the back of the “Destination Ghana” project to help attract, by 2024, one million tourists annually from Britain and Europe. He invited people worldwide to Ghana, the center of the world, to enjoy the famed hospitality and take advantage of the favorable investment climate.
Source: GNA