Thousands of visitors crammed Trade Fair Centre

Thousands of visitors on Wednesday crammed the Trade Fair Centre at La, in Accra to witness activities at the on-going eighth Ghana International Trade Fair, but exhibitors said their presence did not make any meaningful impact on the volume of sales.

The crowd, mainly school children and students took advantage of the Independence Day celebration to at least window-shop, interact with friends and have fun. The crowd kept mounting as the day progressed and it was expected that they would even increase more in the evening with the expected live bands billed to perform.

Mr Prince Quarcoo, the Exhibition Director told the Ghana News Agency that the Fair Company had asked the security personnel to open all the gates to prevent any stampede. In a chat with some exhibitors, they complained that the large presence especially of school children, did not register any appreciable increase in their sales.

"Their large presence did not meet our expectations, said one exhibitor, the kids were only here to window-shop, while jamming up the place to make it difficult for the real buyers to show up."

Mr Fauzi Ayob, Trade Commissioner of the Malaysian Trade Development Corporation said the Malays were expecting more business people, but most of the visitors to their stand were retail buyers. Mr Allan Manche, representing a Spanish firm said the expected sales might increase with the rest of the days.