Tourist sites require a license before they can operate – Akwasi Agyemang

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO)of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyemang, has stated that tourist sites in the country will require the acquisition of a license before they can operate.

According to him, the new measure will help to ensure that tourist sites fulfill the basic requirements which will enhance and improve the safety of individuals who visit the sites.

He explained that the law governing the license of tourist sites was passed in 2020 but they needed to give time to authorities of various sites to put things in place hence its enforcement this year.

Speaking in an interview with Andy Dosty on Hitz FM’s Daybreak on September 4, 2023, Akwasi Agyemang announced the plans of his outfit to license tourist sites in the country before they can operate.

“We came up with a new legislative instrument, 2393, to make sure that all these places can be regulated. In the past, we didn't have proper regulations for them.

Now you need to get a license to be able to operate a tourist site. And so, for example, whether it's Boti Falls, whether it's Kintampo we are going around to now license them.

“You need to have certain basic requirements. You need to have proper management in place. The law says that for every tourist site you need to have the assembly involved, you need to have the traditional authority involved and the tourism authority involved. So that is what we are doing,” he said.

The CEO of the Ghana Tourism Authority indicated that the enforcement of the law on licensing tourist sites will ensure that authorities of the various sites are in compliance with the requirements and elaborated on some of the needs.

“Unfortunately, it was passed in 2020, just before COVID, so when you pass a new law, you need to give people time to prepare before you start enforcement. Because probably some of them, don't have washrooms.

“But the requirement is that you need to have a washroom. Some of them don't have staff at all. Somebody sitting there, you need to recruit, they need to train. So we have started some aggressive stakeholder engagements with all the tourist sites. And we know that in due course we will be able to deal with it,” he said

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