WELCOME, WORLD TOURISTS (SEPT 22)

GHANA plays host to the global players in the tourism industry from today to September 27, 2009, which marks World Tourism Day.
Coming a few months after the landmark visit of President Barack Obama of the USA, and in the heat of the celebration of Founder’s Day, the tourism fiesta provides the country with another platform to showcase its tourism potential.
It is an opportunity to demonstrate the obvious that Ghana abounds in some of the finest tourists sites on the African continent and indeed the world, such as forts and castles, beautiful beaches, parks, waterfalls and a land inhabited by very hospitable people of warm disposition.
Ghana stands to benefit significantly if deliberate plans are put in place to fully exploit this immense potential which nature has endowed us with.
At the moment, some bottlenecks in the industry are hindering growth and revenue mobilisation from the tourist sites.
These include too many undeveloped sites, high cost of hotel accommodation, high air fares, lack of access to tourists sites, inadequate internal flights, as well as inefficient car rental system.
Additionally, the business of charter flights which used to be a booming industry a few years back, has virtually collapsed making it difficult for tourists to visit Ghana in their numbers and at affordable rates.
In recent times, tourism has raked in a lot of revenue, coming next after cocoa, gold and foreign remittances.
The potential exists for the tourism industry in the country to become the number one foreign exchange earner, if we work hard to develop the products.
Tourists and especially many foreigners of African descent are willing to visit Ghana to savour the rich culture and warmth of the people. Their only handicap is our inability to market the potential and what the visitors stand to gain.
Sadly enough, anytime that we have tried to promote the tourism industry, we have done it unprofessionally such that we are unable to reap the maximum benefit.
The World Tourism Day in the country is a high-profile event expected to attract delegates from more than 50 countries worldwide.
In marketing our potential in this industry however, we should focus on products for which we have comparative advantage. On many occasions, we have tried promoting products that the tourists are already familiar with and even when we succeed in attracting them into the country, we are unable to motivate them to undertake follow-up visits.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that it is a bad marketing strategy for instance to continue to serve foreign dishes at major national events when such a platform can be used to market our rich and nutritious food items.
The DAILY GRAPHIC calls on the Ministry of Tourism to take advantage of this high-profile event which will attract renowned writers and journalists worldwide to showcase the rich cultural values of the country and seek the necessary investments in tourism to create jobs and wealth for the people.
We welcome all delegates to the World Tourism Day celebrations and invite them to savour the best in Ghanaian culture and hospitality.
However, we advise them not to abuse our warm hospitality by engaging in sex tourism or focussing only on what is negative.
The successes and achievements of this country are worth celebrating than the challenges of a growing economy.