Madam Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, Minister of Tourism, Art and Culture has hinted that the Government intends to renovate the Takoradi Centre for National Culture (CNC) in the Western Region which has been abandoned for years next year, if Ghanaians give them the mandate to continue with the administration of the country.
She added that the Government in collaboration with the University of Mines and Energy (UMaT) would cut the sod for a Gold Museum project at Tarkwa in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly (TNMA) of the Western Region by December 31, this year to preserve tangible and intangible evidence of gold.
She observed that the Western Region abounds in immense tourist potentials with special reference to the UNESCO heritage site at Nzulezo and Fort St. Anthonio among others and tasked all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to promote tourist sites in their various jurisdictions to ensure sustainable tourism in Ghana.
Madam Oteng-Gyesi gave the hint at a grand durbar to climax this year’s United Nations World Tourism Day (UNWTD) celebrations and exhibition held at the forecourt of the Takoradi Mall in the Western Region.
The event which was graced by traditional rulers, the media, security services, businesses, and stakeholders in the tourism industry was on the theme, “Tourism and Rural Development” and commenced with a virtual symposium via zoom followed by a health walk, a tree planting exercise, a Sod-Cutting for Damang Arts Training Center and a musical concert at Bogoso.
She explained that her outfit would improve upon sanitation at the beaches to harness tourist potentials and to improve visitors’ experience as well as improve physical ambiance at the Ankasa Forest, Fort St. Anthonio at Axim and Beyin Fort near Nzulezo in the Jomoro District.
Madam Oteng-Gyesi indicated that though the Tourism sector chalked remarkable successes in the “Year of Return” initiative in 2019, the gains had been eroded by the COVID-19 pandemic, hence, the prudent measures taken by the government to promote tourism and preserve national and cultural heritage.
She pointed out that with the “Beyond the Return” initiative, the industry will bounce back with more attention being focused on the tourist potentials in rural Ghana to accelerate rural development.
According to the Minister, it was refreshing and heart-warming to learn that as the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, about 200,000 visitors from the Diaspora have been billed to visit tourist sites in the country, which position’s Ghana as the Homeland destination in Africa for international tourism.
She disclosed that the Government has released various packages to partners in the tourism industry and workers in other businesses as part of measures to cushion them against the hazardous effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The package, which is expected to assist businesses to bounce back include a sixty-million Ghana Cedis Stimulus Package to individual businesses and a fifty-million Ghana Cedis facility to support the media and the creative arts industry.
The others are a three-billion Ghana Cedis facility for players in the hospitality industry, a five-million Ghana Cedis package for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and a four-million Ghana Cedis facility for other auxiliary operations.
Story: Seth Ameyaw Danquah
