Tourism is a hugely important sector to Ghana’s economy – Oppong Nkrumah 

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has highlighted the importance of the tourism, culture and creative industries to Ghana’s economy. 

He told the press at an editors’ meeting on Monday, August 14, 2023 at the Accra City Hotel that despite all the funny nicknames previously given to the sector, it is one of the biggest contributors to the gross domestic product and foreign exchange of the country.

“You know we are in a country where everybody erroneously thinks the economy is equal to finance. But the economy is the end product of many things. 

Then finance people do some fiscal policy, the Bank of Ghana people do some monetary policy but the real sector where roads and jobs come from lies in the hands of various other ministries,” he said.

Oppong Nkrumah also mentioned that numbers of the tourism, creative arts and hospitality sector makes it the third largest contributor to GDP in our country. 

“This means that it is the third largest sector in our country where there is productive activity, people are finding jobs, where people find incomes and improve their own quality of lives. If you look at it from the foreign exchange point of view, it is about the sector largest contributor to foreign exchange,” he stated. 

“It is a very, very, very important sector but until recently people used to call it the Ministry of Enjoyment. That is one of those places where you attend some festivals and you invite some Black Americans to come to town. But is a hugely important sector for our economy,” he further noted. 

The government of Ghana in the past years, has put together measures to make Ghana a preferred destination for tourists across the world. 

The Beyond the Return initiative, through its December in GH activities, drives a lot of tourists into the country every year. 

As part of the effort to make Ghana the biggest tourism destination in Africa, the government has announced that it is working towards attracting two million international arrivals that will result in a $4 billion spending impact by 2025.

Shoring up the strategies to make the set objectives more achievable, the Ministry also seeks to to work on the slave routes experience, crab villages, museums, among others. 

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Akwasi Agyeman, to improve nightlife in Accra, they are also rolling out interventions like the Kwame Nkrumah Park, Nationalism Park, and the Geese Park.

The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mohammed Awal, who was also present at the meeting said, next year, the government will be launching a project to solicit novel tourism ideas from young people.

During his address at an editors’ forum, he said the initiative is aimed at imbuing the interest of tourism in the youth and encouraging them to come up with innovative business models for the sector. 

“Next year we are going to launch a 100-million-cedi tourism enterprise project to encourage young people to give us projects on sustainable tourism,” he said. 

He also noted that next year, the ministry will be training 6,000 young people along the tourism value chain. These people will include cooks, security, tour guides, among others. 

“One of our key problems in this country is customer care. I am sure when you go to the tourist sites even the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial park you don’t see people share a lot in terms of customers orientation,” he indicated.

According to the minister, the most important thing in tourism is to get people to repeatedly visit places, a reason they are devising strategies to make tourist develop interest in frequently coming to Ghana.

For the creative sector, the government has promised to pass to set up the Creative Arts Fund to support artistes, complete the theatre in Kumasi, and construct new theatres in Takoradi and Tamale.

It also intends to establish, in partnership with the private sector, large recording studios in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi. Recording artists can rent space to do the recordings in these studios

As a stated in the 2020 manifesto of the ruling New Patriotic Party, the government intends to build a digital platform for artists to make their products available to the global market

There is also a plan to construct one of the biggest convention and exhibition centres in the world at the Ghana Trade Fair Company site, La.

In the meantime, the construction of an Amphitheatre in Kumasi has commenced. 

It is hoped that the Legislative Instrument for the Development and Classification of Film Act will be passed to give assent to the Film Development Fund.