Impact of coronavirus on tourism: Kintampo Waterfalls deserted on Easter Monday

Correspondence from Bono Region:

Managers of the Kintampo Waterfalls in the Kintampo North Municipality of the Bono East region have complained about a decline in the number of customers to the waterfalls.

Usually, a busy place for “holidayers”, the leading tourist centre in the region was strangely deserted on April 13, 2020, which happens to be Easter Monday.

Management says Easter festivities which usually drive people from different parts of the country to the beautiful cascading waterfalls located on the Pumpum River with a suspended walkway, could not salvage the situation.

According to Mr Bismark Baiden, the Officer in Charge of the Waterfalls, they started experiencing a fall in patronage in March but the situation has further compounded as a result of ban on public gatherings.

Mr Baiden revealed that the waterfalls used to record an average number, 600 people, a week but there has been a nosedive in the number of customers who visit the place.

On the current number visits, he said whilst only two people visited the place on Easter Sunday; not a single person had visited the place by noon on Easter Monday.

The reduction in patronage has says had led to a massive dip in revenue, a situation he says will affect the smooth running of the place.

“We were receiving about 600 customers a week but strangely the figures have gone down drastically. We started getting low patronage in March but now it has gone down totally. On a normal day like this, the place will be packed to capacity but the story is different because of COVID-19”.

The Kintampo Waterfalls in 2019 attracted 23,806. The figure showed a significant increase from the 19,223 tourists that visited the site in 2018 but there is the likelihood that the 2020 figures will go down owing to the outbreak of COVID-19.