Labadi Beach Hotel adjudged 5-Star Hotel of the Year

Labadi Beach Hotel has been adjudged the 5-star hotel of the year at the 10th National Tourism Awards held in Accra at the weekend.

The other recipients of the awards included Best Western Premier Hotel, four-star hotel of the year, Biege Village Resort, three-star hotel of the year, MJ Grand Hotel, two-star hotel of the year and Windy Bay Hotel, one-star hotel of the year.

This year's event, on the theme: "Harnessing Our Tourism Resources for National Development," gave out 29 competitive and honorary awards to individuals and organisations who have made immense contributions to the growth of the tourism industry.

Mrs Elizabeth Ofusu-Adjare, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, said the awards was instituted to drive service quality in the country's tourism and enhance Ghana's position as a competitive tourism destination.

She said it also provided a platform to recognise and reward deserving partners and stakeholders who had supported various facets of the country's tourism development efforts.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare said tourism was a dynamic sector with tremendous potentials to boost inclusive growth and reduce poverty through employment creation and opening up of rural areas.

"The sector is expected to play a positive role in the economic transformation of the country alongside agriculture, mining, oil and gas and services," she said.

The Minister said the process for the upgrading of the Hotel Catering and Tourism Training Institute into a fully-fledged National Tourism Academy has started with the hope that the institute, with satellite campuses in all regions, would be built.

"This is to provide the requisite training and skills development necessary to enhance quality service delivery for satisfaction of visitors as well as patrons in the industry," she said.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare said the Ministry, in collaboration with its stakeholders and in partnership with the Japan International Co-operation Agency, had embarked on a scheme to train 100,000 youth in employable skills throughout the country.

She said it should give the Culture and Creative Arts sector a boost and also ensure the production of high-quality craft items for the tourist and export market.

She said it was disconcerting to know that many leading hotels and restaurants source their supplies of some basic items outside the country, indicating that this was a challenge for the local producers.

She said the Ghana Tourism Authority is establishing district offices to bring tourism administration closer to the doorsteps of communities to enhance efficiency, with seven pilot offices ready to be commissioned next year.

Other awardees in the honorary category included Chinese Embassy in Ghana, Kasena-Nakana District Assembly, Ghana Tourism Society, and Movenpick Ambassador Hotel.

The rest are Papaye Fast Foods, Latex Foam, Coconut Groove Hotels, Kasapreko Company Limited and Buabeng Firema Monkey Sanctuary.

The competitive award winners are African World Airline, Airline of the year (Domestic), Mirror Newspaper, tourism oriented media print, Metro Television, tourism oriented media electronic, Tourist Watch, tourist website of the year, and Mole Park, visitor attraction of the year.