The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture is determined to engage with the private sector to craft policies that will help add on to the jobs and employment generated from tourism in the country.
To this end the ministry would engage the private sector associations, including the hotels, restaurants and chop bars, travel and tour agencies and guest houses, among others, regarding strategies to expand the industry to promote more jobs.
According to the sector minister, Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, the tourism industry had the potential to create even more jobs to boost the economy, and help alleviate poverty.
The ministry, she said, “is working seriously with the National Commission on Culture and the private sector to promote the industry to create more jobs.
Mrs Oteng-Gyasi was speaking at this year’s National World Tourism Day celebration at the Centre for National Culture (CNC) in Kumasi on Saturday.
Under the theme, “Tourism and jobs, A better future for all,” the celebration, which forms part of ‘Year of Return,’ saw a contingent of Ghanaian-Gambians, and other foreign nationals gracing the occasion.
The celebration began on Wednesday, September 25, 2019, with an exhibition at the CNC, and a float the following day, climaxing on Saturday with a grand durbar.
Tourism, she said, was a multi sectorial discipline providing direct and indirect jobs.
Mrs Oteng-Gyasi indicated that the ministry had started a promotion of the “Garden City” (Kumasi) at both local and international platforms in order to bring in the needed development for the people “because we recognise the role Asanteman plays in tourism and arts sector.”
Ashanti Regional Coordinating Director, Emelia Botwe, talked about the need for stakeholders to commit more funds to promote the sector “else the sector will be under-utilised”, and called for good road networks, including railways, to promote tourism in the country.
Paramount chief of Kokofu, Barima Offe Okogyaesuo, who represented the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, called for new policies to open up more jobs for women.
He tasked Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, and the GTA to come up with measures to ensure rapid economic development as tourism has the potential to drive the economy at a fast rate.
FROM KINGSLEY E. HOPE, KUMASI
