The tourism industry of Ghana has begun to show signs of a rebound after being hit the hardest by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Tourist arrivals through the country’s various ports of entry went up by 611.4 percent in the third quarter of 2020 when compared with 4,583 visitors received in the second quarter of 2020. This means that the gradual easing of restrictions across the globe has trickled down into the Ghanaian economy with growing confidence among international tourists to visit the various tourist sites in the country.
Tourism holds huge prospects for Ghana as it contributes to job creation, revenue generation, and also opens up the country to attract foreign direct investment. Despite being blessed with several tourist sites; Ghana has not been able to leverage the huge potentials of its tourism sector to drive its developmental agenda.
In 2019, Ghana recorded 1.13million arrivals and an estimated contribution of $3.3billion to the Ghanaian economy, according to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. Earlier this year, CNN Travel named Ghana among the top 21 places to visit in 2021 due to the success of the ‘Year of Return’ and the prospects of its successor, ‘Beyond The Return’. The Year of Return initiative in 2019 targeted international visitors of African descent and Ghana, in West Africa, is continuing to bank on diaspora tourism with its new campaign Beyond the Return.
However, COVID 19 has taken its toll on the industry: hotels, restaurants, pubs, event centers, beaches, and other tourist attractions are either closed or running low on patronage. Tour operators and guides are currently not working.
A total of 32,602 tourists entered the country during the third quarter of 2020, as against 304,601 visitors received in the third quarter of 2019, indicating a significant decline of 89.3 percent. The year-on-year decline in tourist arrivals, according to the Bank of Ghana, was mainly due to travel restrictions in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.
Ghana’s much touted ‘Beyond the return’ project has stalled in the interim as borders remain shut. Despite the difficulties and challenges, the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) is optimistic that the tourism industry is resilient and will rebound stronger from the current pandemic.
The Ghana Tourism Authority indicates that it continues to engage stakeholders in the tourism industry to ascertain the impact of COVID-19 on their businesses and how they could be assisted to survive this global pandemic. GTA projects a loss of revenue to the industry in the region of $170 million. The GTA through meetings with the various stakeholders in the tourism industry found that stakeholder concerns and needs included tax holidays, a moratorium on loan payments, soft loans to cushion them, suspension of utility payments during these trying moments.
Stakeholders also appealed to the authority to help them with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE’s) such as sanitizers, face masks, gloves, and temperature guns to enable them to take some of the precautionary measures in preventing the pandemic.
Since Land and sea borders currently remain closed, it is still uncertain as to when the tourism industry will be permitted to commence full operations. This is the time for the GTA to leverage the growth of ICTs in the country to promote virtual tourism as its being practiced in some countries including South Africa and Kenya.
The GTA’s project ‘Building Bridges Together’ which focused on 4 key areas: Digitalization, Regional Collaboration, Research and Training, and Advocacy & Public Relations is very timely and the Authority should commit more resources to ensure that the sector rebound stronger. The establishment of virtual Tourism Brand’s CEO’s forum to strengthen collaboration and facilitate greater Intra-African Travel is, therefore, a piece of welcome news.
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