GREATER POTENTIAL: CELEBRATING TOURISM & BRANDING GHANA’S TOURIST SITES

In the spirit of togetherness, the global community marks 27^th September every year as World Tourism Day.

Our world is wonderfully made with tourism gems dotted in every country. The Republic of Ghana has not been left out of this blessing and neither has the Continent of Africa. To properly harness the power of tourism for the Continent, Africans need to recognize the greater potential of the sector.

In light of this however, the seriousness of security on the Continent should be tackled with finality as pockets of terrorism and civil unrest meander the vast landscape.

Again, in order to ensure that the generations to come also enjoy the magnificence of tourism sites, heritages and culture, the question of sustainability should weigh heavily on the minds and hearts of many, governments and citizens in totality. The World Tourism Organisaion, this year, has chosen the theme: Sustainable Tourism, A Tool for Development. How true these words resound.

Tourism singularly affects the three dimensions of sustainable development, being ECONOMIC (the potential of impacting phenomenal growth); SOCIAL (driving knowledge of the diverse races worldwide fostering peace in an otherwise turbulent world) and ENVIRONMENTAL (improving the quality of life for the contact communities where tourist sites are located).

In our corner of the globe, we constantly celebrate our heritage and culture but a lot more could be done to project the Ghanaian tourist destinations as actual brands.

To cite examples: The unbelievably friendly crocodiles in Paga; The imperial monkeys at the Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary in Brong Ahafo; The drama and attention seeking hippos of the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary in Upper West; The giants of the dawn who come to count the tourist in the morning at Zaina Lodge in the Northern Region; watersports and whale watching in Ada Foah; Marlin hunting in the Western Region; Sandy beaches and endless shores of the coast; delightful Regional food and the fusion cuisine delight of the Capitol City. The list is endless.