GTA outlines four recovery pathways for tourism post-coronavirus

In a webinar series organized by Global Media Alliance, the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyemang, speaking on the topic, ‘Impact of COVID-19 on the Events and Hospitality Industries’, noted that the Tourism and Hospitality industry which depends a lot on social gathering and the movement of people is currently one of the hardest-hit by the outbreak of COVID-19.

The Coronavirus pandemic has affected development in the tourism industry in the country. The disease has necessitated the need for social distancing and the restriction of movements of people to curb its spread.

Akwasi Agyemang was, however, positive that post-COVID-19, Ghana will bounce back to a booming tourism industry considering the measures put in place by the Authority to revive the industry.

In his presentation, he outlined that through stakeholder engagements, the Authority has been able to identify four key focus areas that will quickly stimulate the demand for tourism.

First and foremost, he stated that a lot of efforts will be put into the marketing and promotions of domestic tourism and campaigns. “To stimulate domestic tourism, the domestic campaign, See Ghana, Eat Ghana, Wear Ghana and Feel Ghana will be relaunched. Regional tourism will be given impetus with the ongoing West Africa Integrated Travel (WAIT project)”, he said.

He also noted that quick-win events such as December in GH will be heavily promoted with key events-Afronation and Afrochella as the anchors. He added that these events in the past year, attracted over 100,000 people and as such it will be in the right direction to promote these events once more.

He furthered that the Authority will also focus on digital tourism with the launch of industry training and a virtual tourism product for all major sites and attractions.

He noted that while all these measures are put in place, it is imperative that there is a review of visa policy to ensure access to tourism in Ghana.