Ghana to redevelop tourist sites to improve livelihoods of indigenes -Okraku Mantey
GBC
Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku Mantey.
By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
The Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku Mantey says Ghana is ready to diversify its tourism program by redeveloping most tourist attractions across the country under the Ghana Tourism Development Project.
He made the observation at the 2022 National World Tourism Day celebration at Wa in the Upper West Region.
GBC’s Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo reports that the theme for the occasion was “Rethinking Tourism”.
The occasion also had a sub theme “Promoting Domestic Tourism to Boost or Create Wealth in Communities”.
A photo session.
Mr. Okraku Mantey announced that the commitment to diversify will equally help to enhance the tourism experience for tourists whilst improving the livelihood of rural communities.
He touched on the ten million-dollar World Bank grant for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
“His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo launched a ten million dollar World Bank grant support to cushion SMEs and to upgrade some of our sites.”
“This initiative to improve our tourist sites to increase visits and achieve the Ministry’s target of contributing more than four billion dollars to the GDP of this country by 2024.”
The Deputy Minister stressed the necessity for the country to leverage on technology to enhance tourism experience as a way of rethinking tourism.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih underscored the significance of tourism in national development.
“Tourism is the third contributor to our economy, coming after cocoa and gold.”
The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih.
He charged the media to develop innovative programs to attract tourists.
“We expect the media to develop innovative programs that will attract thousands of people to these sites.Therefore, I will use this opportunity to charge the media in Upper West Region to develop innovative programs that will make more tourists from all over the world to visit these sites and together we will be able to grow the economy.”
Dr Bin Salih called for the development of a workable strategy to position the Upper West Region as the preferred tourist destination in the country.
President of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs, Dikomwine Domalae who chaired the function was thankful to the organisers for choosing Wa to host the event.
The President of the UWRHC, Naa Dikomwine Domalae.
