Ministry of Tourism Embarks on Ambassadorial Tour

By Fatima Adam

As part of efforts to celebrate the upcoming world tourism day, the Ministry of Tourism, Volta River Authority (VRA) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) have embarked on an Ambassadorial Tour to help boost tourism patronage in Ghana.
The said program hosted twenty-seven High Commissioners and Ambassadors from different parts of the world, including Canada, USA, Nigeria, Algeria, Australia and Czech Republic among others.

These high profile personalities visited two main tourist sites; the Shai Hills which is located in the Dangme West District of Greater Accra with a surface area of 51 kilometers and the Akosombo Dam, which generates hydro-electricity for the country’s power needs.
The Shai Hills tourist site was built in 1921 under the Leadership for Conservation in Africa (LCA) to help protect tourist sites, conservation of nature and to provide recreation for the people of the Metropolis.

The area also has fifteen protected tourist areas, a varied package of wildlife, archaeological sites, carves and granite Hills and is been occupied by three main species; Baboons, Bushbucks and Ostriches.
The Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam covers a surface area of 3, 283 square miles which is 3.6% of Ghana’s area and is the main source of energy generation in Ghana.

Commenting on the tour, the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Akua Sena Dansua noted that the exercise was to bring shareholders to invest in the various tourist sites in Ghana, hence the focus on High Commissioners and Ambassadors, who she believed would pass on the message of what they see to their various countries.
“We bring them to promote these products here in Ghana and outside, we have a lot of potentials we are yet to develop, the capacity of the Ministry does not have and government alone cannot do it, but we believe that when they go back they will go and sell these to their families within their country and also to investors so that some of them can come here and invest,” she noted.
To her, the choice of the area of Akosombo in hosting this year’s World Tourism Day had to with the theme for the celebration of the event; “Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development.”

On Thursday, September 27, 2012, the entire community of Akosombo would come agog, when stakeholders in the tourism industry assembly to celebrate this year’s World Tourism day.

Sponsors of the event include rlg communications, Golden Tulip Hotel, Fiesta Royale Hotel and Volta River Authority among many others.
The General Manager of the Volta River Authority, Mr. Fred Bart-Plange, on his part stated that there can’t be complete hospitality to tourists without energy.
He added that Akosombo Dam would be a perfect place for international conference to be held, and other good facilities and urged the general public to patronize it.
“After the visit, I believe the diplomats will announce the good news to their people and invest; we have casinos, hotels; VRA have the land so we need people to partner with and grow it. I can tell you that the highest revenue of London comes from tourism,” he noted.
The High Commissioner of Canada, Trudy Kernigham and the High Commissioner of Nigeria, Mr. Ademola O. Onafowokan, congratulated Ghana for its wonderful tourist sites and assured the Minister of their interest to partner with the Government of Ghana to grow the tourism industry.

Short URL: http://thechronicle.com.gh/?p=47743