Tourism Ghana

Upon having a cursory look at the title of this article ‘’Tourism Ghana’’ one could easily be swayed into thinking that, it is one of the many articles put forward to discuss Ghana’s tourism potential and prospects in toto. Far from it, tourism Ghana is the newest official international publication magazine of Ghana which is put together by the Ghana Tourism Authority under the supervision of the ministry of Tourism.

Tourism Ghana is a magazine that will be produced quarterly by the authority and it is geared towards making our tourism attractions/resources accessible to potential travelers before they plan their trips. In this respect, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ghana Tourism Authority are supported by the Foreign Affairs Ministry in ensuring that the Diplomatic Representations of the Republic of Ghana abroad are the first points of call for future visitors to our country. As a policy, advance copies of Tourism Ghana are dispatched to all 53 missions world-wide, from Brazil to Russia and from Australia to Canada.

Though some cynics may argue that, it is long overdue, like the saying goes‘‘better late than never’’ and kudos to the team that put up this wonderful project together. Right from the Authority’s chief executive officer, Mr. Julius Debrah and his team of directors, management, and more ‘’specially’’ the editorial advisory group and African Destinations that worked tirelessly on the maiden edition.

This initiative is a standard world practice that developed countries have adopted as one of their numerous strategies to bring tourism to the door steps of travelers and the world at large in order to make some informed decisions. We can make mention of similar publications , like Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine., Caribbean Beat is a bimonthly magazine, published in Port of Spain, Trinidad, covering the arts, culture and society of the Caribbean, with a focus on the region's English-speaking territories, Cruise International is a British magazine covering the cruise travel industry., Travel + Leisure is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York., Travel In Taiwan, travel routes, and many other more.

On the magazine itself, the maiden edition deserves plaudits from all. Perhaps the plaudit given this magazine also goes to underscore the need for public private partnership to be entrenched in all facets of our economy most especially in the tourism sector. First of all, the quality of the magazine will rub shoulders with any other international magazine and as Kwaku Sintim Misa (KSM) will have it when signing off TGIF ‘’ numero un’’. As one flips through the magazine, it brings greetings from the Ghanaian public in general and of course special welcome address by the sector minister, Mrs Akua Sena Dansua, the chairman of the parliamentary select committee on trade, industry and tourism, honourable Amadu Sorogho, and the acting board chairman of the Ghana Tourism Authority,Edem Kpodo. It goes to chronicle messages and experiences by foreign tourists and how they will on any day recommend destination Ghana to other travelers.

It proceeds into a special column dubbed ‘IN TIME FOR TOUR’’ where the editor highlight what is in the magazine and also goes on to give a teaser about what readers are to expect from the next edition. Tourism Ghana displays Ghana’s ties with the international community and has the galleries of pleasantries shared between Ghanaian leaders and their counterparts from America, i.e. Ex president Jerry John Rawlings hosting president Clinton, President John Kufour playing host to George Bush and the current President Professor John Atta Mills having a tete –a- tete with President Barack Obama in the castle. In that section it brings to the fore great pictures of Pan Africanist and Ghana’s first president Osagyefo Dr. kwame Nkrumah with Emperor Haile Selassie, Martin Luther king, Jimmy Carter and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

The interesting thing about the magazine as one flips through is how the stories combines the art of culture with the state of the art infrastructure and the facilities. Though most of the publication will be send outside the country, there will be copies available in the local market which will seek to inform the citizenry about the going-on in the tourism industry.

This magazine I believe will put to bed the plethora of ‘’mushroom’’ magazines that purport to write on tourism issues but clearly are ill-informed about the touristic value of what they are talking about or putting out stories which simply can be described as red herring.

Just to add to this noble project, I believe just as the honourable minister was encouraging the various airlines to adopt the magazine as their in-flight magazines, it would also inure to our benefit the most if the Authority could strike a deal with these airlines to have them on. We can also explore the possibilities of engaging various airports where our source markets can be traced.

Going forward, I believe we can factor the local market into consideration where well established tourists sites will have copies of the publication. We should also try to incorporate a novelty where it create a column that will sort to grade and appraise hospitality/tourism establishment that are adhering to not only the rules of the authority but adjusting to modern trends in the industry. It will not out rightly stop the quacks from operating or existing but will have a significant impact on their operations and tourists would be informed before making their choices.

Tourism has become one of the driving forces of global employment, economic security and social well-being of the 21st century. The sector today represents 5% of global GDP, one in twelve jobs worldwide, and 30% of the world’s exports of services, ranking fourth after fuels, chemicals and automotive products.

In signing of, the quotes below perhaps will give this initiative the impetus it needs to stay in the system. First from the honourable mister of tourism during the lunch of the magazine, she said ‘’publicity was a critical tool for the development of the tourism industry however, publicity is expensive and we are not able to do enough, this magazine “Tourism Ghana” will fill the void,”

Ms. Becky Anderson, anchorwoman for CNN once said at UNWTO conference that the very nature of news is often gloomy, and that to get a message across the travel industry has to be more pro-active and rely on more than press releases.

Kojo Bentum-Williams

Tourism Advocate

kojofabio@gmail.com

www.tourisminghana.blogspot.com