The contribution of tourism to Ghana’s total export earnings increased from US$650 million in 2004 to almost US$800 million last year.
It is projected that under the five-year strategic action plan, tourist arrivals will increase to one million, with a corresponding projected earning of US$1.5 billion by the year 2007.
The industry hopes to create employment, both indirect and induced, of about 360,000 within the period.
The acting Deputy Executive Director of the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) in charge of Finance and Administration, Mr Charles Osei Bonsu, announced this at the seventh Western Regional Tourism Awards Night at Nkroful in the Nzema East District at the weekend.
A total of 17 practitioners in the tourism industry in the Western Region received various awards.
Mr Osei Bonsu noted that the tourism sector had experienced continuous growth in percentage terms, both in the number of projects registered and total investment cost.
“The tourism industry is now the industry of the millennium and the boom of Ghana’s economy,” he explained.
He said to induce and attract more investments into the tourism sector, the government had promulgated a new tourism investment law which sought to grant various tax exemptions and tax holidays to tourism-related projects, including accommodation, catering, travel and tours, car rentals, conference and convention centres and camp sites, a development which he described as unprecedented in the tourism industry of the country.
Mr Osei Bonsu said the establishment of the Tourism Development Fund was also being pursued vigorously to cushion the sector’s meagre budgetary allocation for the aggressive marketing and promotion of the country’s tourism and the establishment of training institutions and facilities to boost the industry.
Being basically a service industry, he explained, tourism development depended on a quality workforce, such as the skills, knowledge and attitude of workers, supervisors and managers.
Unfortunately, Mr Osei Bonsu said, Ghana’s tourism industry was marked by a critical shortage of skilled and service- friendly personnel at the operations, supervisory and management levels.
“To meet the training-related challenges, the Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations is to establish an industry-led training system for tourism and hospitality,” he said, adding, “The industry will, therefore, play a major role in investing and mobilising resources to support human resource development.”
He said an accreditation system would be introduced to regulate training in the tourism and hospitality sector and that both public and private training providers would satisfy accreditation requirements before they were allowed to train personnel in the industry.
According to him, all accreditation training programmes would have an on-the-job training component where emphasis would be placed on practical skills and competence.
Mr Osei Bonsu announced that the government had voted funds for the expansion and upgrading of training facilities at the Hotel, Catering and Tourism Training Institute (HOTCATT) in Accra to enable the institute to increase its intake and offer skill and competency-based training to enhance quality service delivery by all hospitality establishments in the country.
The Western Regional Co-ordinating Director, Mr David Yaro, noted that tourism everywhere in the world was private- sector driven.
He said over 22 receptive facilities nationwide, including the Dr Kwame Nkrumah receptive facility at Nkroful, were being developed in an effort to expand the tourism package, as well as create wealth in the local communities.
Mr Yaro said the Western Region had enormous natural resources, natural beauty, as well as an impressive history about the struggle for independence but it had not taken enough advantage of that potential.
“As we prepare to celebrate our 50th independence anniversary, we must start a new chapter by adopting strategies aimed at tapping the full potential of our resources,” he said.
