The Ghana Tourism Federation says government has lip services with regards to the growth of the tourism, sector despite its enormous potential.
The Federation, therefore, wants to see an ambitious policy in the 2023 Budget to revive and transform the sector as one of the significant contributors to the economy.
Speaking to Joy Business, Executive Secretary of the Federation, Emmanuel Frimpong said the government must begin implement promises made to stakeholders in the tourism sector.
“I’m saying that government over the years has just given too many lip services to the sector. If you look at the potential of tourism in this country, and we’ve seen countries that are using tourism to contribute so much to their economy. But we hear too many talks, little efforts to actually position the tourism sector to contribute much to the economy”.
“I think government has to prioritise whatever they are doing and I hope that this budget [2023] will seek to do that because if you look at tourism, it is one of the sectors that has the potential to impact on every aspect of the economy where everybody benefits, especially women”, he explained.
He further added that tourism has the potential to bring in significant foreign exchange earnings.
“I believe tourism has the potential to change some of the things we are seeing. I mean come to think of it, anybody that comes to the country as a tourist, comes here with foreign money. So, if we are talking about dollars that we don’t have, what is our problem”, he mentioned.
“We have an airport that when people are coming here, it is difficult to get visa. Visa on arrival is a challenge…electronic visa is a challenge. Why should I be here chilling, I don’t know. So these are the hanging proves that we should be looking at but government is doing nothing.
Source: MyJoyOnline