Ghana’s airline traffic and international tourist arrivals pick up steam as global mobility restrictions ease following increased vaccination rates and the associated effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to fade.
According to data from the Bank of Ghana, a total of 294, 568 tourists entered the country for the first seven months of the year, representing an increase of 32.2% compared to the same period in 2020.
On a month-on-month basis, international tourist arrivals climbed up by 23.7%, reaching 63,713 in July 2021. This is also compared with 6,630 passenger arrivals in July 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown measures which were in place at the time.
It is expected that the number of tourist arrivals will increase further as we approach the Christmas festivities. This may reflect same figures as seen during the last quarter of 2020, which saw tourist arrivals subdued for months pick up strongly.
December GH events to increase Tourist Arrivals
In line with the preparations for the ‘December in GH events’, 150,000 tourists are expected to arrive in the country to participate in the activities of the event, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture (MoTAC) announced in October 2021.
According to the Minister for Tourism, Dr Mohammed Awal is on record to have said: “Government’s ambitions for the sector … to generate about 250,000 domestic and international jobs within the sector by end of year, leveraging significantly on ‘December in GH.
“The last quarter of this year is very critical for us in attracting these projected numbers into the country.”
Dr Mohammed Awal, Minister for Tourism
Tourists expected to arrive in the country for the event are mostly from America, Nigeria, UK, Germany, China, The Netherlands, he said.
Prospects from tourism are huge, especially, in terms of job creation, increasing incomes and improvement of livelihoods of people living around major tourist sites in the country. And this event is expected to improve such prospects.
In its forecast, Fitch Solutions has projected that total tourist arrivals from various ports of entry of the country will increase to close to 1.5 million arrivals within the next five years.
While this is impressive, Ghana’s tourist arrivals is among the lowest quintile globally. This is the case, due to low airport infrastructure investments in the country compared to regional peers.
Port Activities improve
Economic activities at the country’s two main harbours, Tema and Takoradi, as measured by laden container traffic for imports and exports, recorded an improvement during the reviewed period.
In cumulative terms, total container traffic for the first seven months of 2021 rose by 23.9 percent to 457,152 compared with 368,832 for the corresponding period of last year
Data from the Central Bank of Ghana show that total container traffic for imports and exports went up by 18.9 percent to 66,431 in July 2021 from 55,881 for a similar period in 2020.
The Bank of Ghana attributed the improvement in port activities, year-on-year, “partly to an up-tick in international trade activities as global COVID-restrictions eased during the quarter”.
Investments in Ghana’s airport infrastructure have been really slow, thus, there is only a few mention of airports of international standards in the country. To increase the benefits from the sector, the government should strategically increase airport infrastructure as well as make the country’s tourist sites attractive to further increase tourist arrivals in the country.
