The Deputy Director of Corporate Affairs for the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi, has posited that the tourism and arts sector is bouncing back following the impact of COVID-19, a year after the outbreak.
He made this assertion during an interview where he noted that the GTA, the Ministry of tourism, arts and culture, and the government have put in place measures that are helping the sector get back on its feet after it was negatively affected by the pandemic.
“God being so good, we had top government officials like Akwasi Agyemang, Honorable Barbara Oteng Gyasi, and Honorable Awal Mohammed, who have put in so many measures that will help to forestall some of these things that took place. So a year on, the tourism industry is bouncing back”.
Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi
Recalling how the tourism industry was affected by the global pandemic, Mr. Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi revealed that they were the hardest hit out of all the other sectors in the country. This was because they were planning on a major project before the pandemic took over the world.
“The pandemic created a very serious issue for the tourism industry. When you check the statistics you will realize that the tourism sector is the hard-hit sector that has been affected by the pandemic. Immediately we rolled out the ‘Beyond the return’ project as a follow-up to the ‘Year of return’, which was obviously aimed at bringing in more tourists into the country, that was when the pandemic started. So, we were badly hit”.
Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi
He further mentioned that the authority granted relief to several people who fall under the Ministry. According to Mr. Kusi, the government brought about a “stimulus package” which was given to industry players to help them survive during the pandemic.
“The government brought about the ‘stimulus package’, which went a long way to help people in the hospitality and tourism industry. There was six hundred million Ghana cedis allocated and most of our tourism industry players benefited from this ‘stimulus package’. There was also an allocation of fifty million Ghana cedis to the creative arts and the media”.
Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi
He also detailed how the authority was able to promote tourism during the lockdown period. He revealed that they employed a “‘tourism guru’, which is an online way of experiencing virtual tourism. So that, people in the comfort of their homes can be able to experience tourism”.
When asked what was the way forward for the Ministry and authority since the pandemic is still lingering and even surging, he mentioned that the GTA in conjunction with the Ministry and World Bank, are putting in place strategies that will help industry players and the sector to continue to strive.
“Ghana tourism development project seeks to open up tourism. We are also looking at more ‘stimulus packages’ for most of these tourism establishments. Secondly, we have the national tourism marketing strategy which Mr. Akwasi Agyemang is spearheading with the World Bank. So what the World Bank has done is that they have unleashed money which would be used to open up our tourist sites. Once it’s opened we will let the media know”.
Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi
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