Good roads are assets to the tourism industry -Chief

Beyin (W/R), Sept. 24, GNA - Awulei Ano Adjaye III, Chief of Beyin, a village in the Jomoro District, has appealed to members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade and Tourism to help build roads in the district since good roads were assets to the tourism industry. He said even though the Western Region was endowed with many tourist sites, roads leading to the sites were deplorable hence most tourists do not want to visit such sites.

Awulei Ano Adjaye III said this in a speech read on his behalf when members of the select committee toured the region to know the challenges, problems and opportunities in the development of tourism. The committee led by Mr Joseph Boakye Danquah, Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, visited the Kakum National Park, Elmina Castle, Axim Beach Resort and Nzulezu in the Central and Western regions. Awulei Ano Adjaye said another problem the village faced was electricity.

The entire village uses a single phase, thus most of the time Benyin does not have electricity because of the heavy load on the line. Mr Danquah, Chairman of the committee, said members of the committees experienced the bad nature of the road and would convey the message to parliament.

Mr Nkuku Akyea, President of the Tour Guides Association, expressed concern about the lack of toilet facilities along the roads leading to tourist sites.

He said it was always a nightmare when travellers wanted to respond to nature's call because of lack of such facilities in the country. Mr Edwin Owusu-Mensah, Deputy Executive Director in-charge of Operations at GTB, said the board was aware of such a problem but as an implemening agency it could not venture into the building of places of convenience.

He said to encourage private sector participation in such ventures the board instituted the highway rest stop concept to encourage people to establish such facilities along the highways.