MPs agree that tourism needs a bigger budget

Keta (V/R), July 8, GNA - Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee of Trade and Tourism On Sunday ended a three-day working tour to the Volta Region expressing conviction that there was the need to approve a bigger budget for the tourism industry.

Mrs Alice Boon, Member of Parliament for Lambussie and Deputy Ranking of the Committee, said: "We need to vote a bigger amount to tourism development because when developed the tourism industry can be the biggest income earner."

She urged the District Assemblies to take up the challenge of developing tourists sites in their areas and noted that as a country we were not doing much towards the development of tourism.

Mrs. Boon who also commented on the packaging and marketing of tourism products said there was the need for Ghanaians to appreciate tourism and its potentials.

She described the tour as an enlightenment and commended the Ghana Tourists Board for the efforts towards the development of tourism despite the low budget involved.

Mr. Martin Mireku, Acting Executive Director of the Ghana Tourists Board, said the tour was organized to introduce the law makers to what Ghana had to offer in terms of tourism.

He said the members of the committee handles tourism issues in parliament and so there was the need to let them know what existed.

"The parliamentary select Committee on trade and tourism looks at the tourism budget before it gets to the floor of Parliament," he explained. Mr Mireku noted that without government's support tourism development in the country will be a problem since we need money for promotion of tourism products. He said the tourism industry was such that products needed to be well packaged and marketed to get the needed revenue.

He however, said the Tourists Board lacked the resources to enable it to package and market the products as expected. 08 July 2007