Ghana's 50TH Anniversary Celebration and Tourism Promotion in Ghana

8.08.2006 - By David Owusu-Amoah , Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council The rich Ghanaian culture and other tourism potentials which are expressed in language, passage rites, festivals, historical monuments, eco-tourist sites and even ordinary day activities are unique enough to attract tourists to earn the nation more foreign exchange than it is doing at the moment. For example it has been established that out of the 60m American tourists, only 20,000 visit Ghana annually. The question that readily comes to mind is why our tourism sector is not making the desired impact. The answer may not be far-fetched. It may be that as a nation, we have not promoted and marketed our tourism potential to the optimum. Unfortunately, we sometimes trivialize tourism and look down upon tourists from the western countries who tour Africa. It is important to note that such recreations and holidaying that tourists travel for help them to regain energy for optimum performance at work, which also leads to productivity. Indeed, recreation is a natural tonic for the body and mind. It takes away some of the stress that our day-to-day workload comes along with. Unfortunately, there are many Ghanaians who after a long period of work, engage in other equally tedious work like farming for extra income. Tourism is an industry that needs to be held in high esteem. For the vision of making the tourism sector a major foreign exchange earner to become a reality, the celebration of Ghana's 50th independence anniversary in 2007 should be an opportunity for the Nation to market its tourist attraction sites. This will enable the tourists who celebrate the anniversary with us to have an indelible impression about Ghana"s tourism. The Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Affairs, the Ghana Tourist Board, Regional Coordinating Councils, District Assemblies, our traditional authorities and all other stakeholders should team up and draw up comprehensive programmes aimed at enhancing every tourism potential in the country.