Executive Director of the Ghana Tourism Federation, Emmanuel Frimpong, has called on government to invest in the hospitality industry. According to him, it will be incredible to see some “level of investment in the tourism sector”.

His comments follow calls by the Ghana Hotels Association for transparency as applications open for COVID-19 stimulus package disbursement.

Mr Frimpong insists that a well-financed sector will ensure growth in employment rate and GDP of the country.

“About three weeks ago, we did a presentation to IMF and one of the things that they said to us was that they have done a research and the research has pointed to the fact that if Ghana wants to come out of this, one of the surest areas or sectors to tackle is the tourism and hospitality sector.

“So, the evidence is there but sometimes we find it hard to understand why government is not investing in the tourism and hospitality sector. If we were to invest, then we will see enormous improvement in the sector. I think we have to make conscious effort… Let’s have a specific amount that we assign to tourism and hospitality sector. That this is how much we want to invest and this is the result that we want to see as a result of this investment. So, if we are able to do that, I think that is the way to go”.

Improvement in the tourism sector

Commenting on the latest GSS data on the improvement on the tourism sector by 10.7%, he noted that there has been some level of “improvement”. However, he expressed misgivings over their “statistics” as they “have not been interviewed”.

That notwithstanding, he conceded to the fact that there has been some growth in the activities of the sector.

“We’ve seen some businesses picking up. Just last week, we had thirty two Rwandan delegation coming here. They toured around, they spent money, so yes. We have about thirty different trade associations, so I’m not too sure about this 10% that they are talking about…”

“Yes we have seen some level of improvement but we can’t put figures to it. So, going forward maybe when they share what they have done with us and we can confer that indeed there is that level of improvement. But so far, we cannot say much about that, but there is some level of improvement in what we do”.

Disbursement of covid-19 stimulus funds

Touching on the rollout of the second phase of the COVID-19, Mr Frimpong insisted that the Association has not “heard anything from anyone”.

“There hasn’t been any communication, there hasn’t been any alert, nothing. It is unfortunate, we don’t know why. At our last meeting with NBSSI, we were made aware that they wouldn’t want to deal with associations again because of the stress that they had to go through. I don’t want to believe that is the situation because that will be unfortunate. So, we are waiting to hear anything from them since we are starting the process today. Maybe by the close of the day we will hear something from them but so far, nothing has been heard”.

He revealed that, although the hospitality industry is an area touted to be beneficial to the country, not much has been done about it. Mr Frimpong maintained that all what they hear are “rhetoric” of support from government.

“If you look at the number of Associations or individual businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry that were supported by government through NBSSI, it’s unfortunate. A hotel of ten employees will receive something like GHC 3000, some people receiving GHC 500 and others receiving GHC 300. What are we going to do with GHC 300 if you’re a tour operator or a tour guide? Touching on how the impact of investment from business into the sector”.