The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, (MOTAC), Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, has underscored the need for industry players in the Tourism sector to provide quality customer service delivery.
According to the Minister the inability for industry players to provide customers with the quality service delivery would make them find other options, as customers demand satisfaction.
Dr Awal disclosed this during the opening of a five-day training workshop organised by the MOTAC in partnership with the Spanish Government through the Spanish Embassy in Accra on Monday.
The training workshop seeks to train about 50trainersin the tourism value chain who would in turn train 2,000 tourism operators with the aim of building their capacity in terms of quality customer service.
Dr Awal saidthe Ministry was poised to make Ghana the tourism hub of West Africa by ensuring that it exceeded the receiving of 2million tourists by 2024.
He further said the country received not less than 1million tourists this year with a revenue base of $2.4billion.
Additionally, the Minister advised the operators in the tourism sector to share the knowledge acquired to build generational businesses as research had shown that 15 percent of business in Africa failed to survive when its founders passed on.
Dr Awal also highlighted the importance of technology and innovation as key drivers in the tourism sector, adding that “the National Museum for instance, received 14 tourists within six weeks after it’s opening by the President.”
He, therefore, urged tourist operators to leverage in technology and innovation while acknowledging the role of the private sector in the improvement of the Tourism, Arts and Cultural industry.
For his part, the Spanish Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Javier Gutierrez, explained that the partnership would enable the two countries to learn from each other, considering the potential in the tourism industry.
Mr Gutierrez said tourism was key to the economic growth of Spain as it amounted to 72 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and was of the view that the training would help in the creation of one million jobs in Ghana.
He added that the role of women in the growth of the Tourism, Arts and Cultural sector could not be over looked and therefore encouraged them to take advantage of such initiatives such as the training programme to develop their potential.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Mr AkwesiAgyeman lauded the Spanish Embassy for coming up with such training to help build the capacity of operators in the sector.
He asserted that the training programme would add up to some training programmes being organised by the government under the Ghana Cares Programme.
Mr Agyeman said he expected the trainees at the workshop to impact the sector in order to build a strong and resilient economy.
BY VIVIAN ARTHUR
