‘Beyond the Return’ making Ghana best place for diaspora investment - Annabelle Mckenzie

Ghana’s ‘Beyond The Return’ initiative aimed at engaging the people of African descent and enhancing investment opportunities is making the country the best place for diaspora investment.

The initiative, which is a decade of African Renaissance earmarked from 2020 to 2030 has attracted some investments and partnerships in the areas of film production, education and sports whilst impacting the fortunes of the tourism and hospitality sector, the ‘Beyond The Return’ Secretariat has said.

The initiative is grounded on seven pillars – ‘Experience Ghana,’ ‘Invest In Ghana,’ ‘Diaspora Pathways To Ghana,’ ‘Celebrate Ghana,’ ‘Brand Ghana,’ ‘Give Back To Ghana’ and ‘Promote Pan African Heritage and Innovation’.

Annabelle Mckenzie, Director, ‘Beyond The Return’ Secretariat, in an interview with the media, said: “The US and Caribbean have been the top market for Beyond The Return and we have partnerships and engagements with universities in Atlanta, USA, in the Bahamas and Barbados.

“A lot of more creators, film producers have decided to come to Ghana to shoot documentaries and movies and they look at Ghana as a top destination for creativity,” she added.

Miss Mckenzie said the Secretariat had been using both the ‘Year of Return’ and ‘Beyond the Return’ to tell the African story for greater economic value for Ghana, with great impact on the tourism and hospitality ecosystem – hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, artifacts sector and arts.

“One of Ghana’s Premier League teams would play DC United as part of the 'Ghana Week DC’ event in October in Washington DC, USA. All this would help in creating a platform for investments,” the Director said.

”Beyond the Return’ is a follow-up to the successful ‘Year Of Return’ campaign in Ghana 2019, which commemorated the 400th Anniversary of the arrival of the first recorded enslaved Africans in Jamestown Virginia in 1619.

Madam Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, a former Minister, Tourism, Arts and Culture, in May 2020, stated that the tourism sector recorded US$3.312 billion in revenue because of the ‘Year of Return’ initiative.

Ghana’s 2022 tourism report indicated that the country generated over $2.5 billion from 914, 892 international tourists that year, representing a 47 per cent increase from the previous year’s 623,523.

Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, Minister, Tourism, Arts and Culture, said the target by the end of 2023 should be 1.2 million international arrivals with domestic tourists at 1.2 million.

“We are expecting to generate about 3.4 billion dollars for this economy and we expect to create 150,000 jobs in 2023,” he said.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo months ago said he wanted the tourism sector to be the number one revenue generator with USD 4 billion by 2024 and making Ghana the tourism hub in West Africa.