This year’s World Tourism Day was marked on Wednesday in Takoradi in the Western Region on the theme, “Tourism and Jobs: A Better Future for All.”
The day was celebrated to highlight and promote a greater engagement of the tourism sector with its rippling effects on the Ghanaian and world economy, foster awareness among the global community of tourism’s social, cultural, political and economic values and the contributions of the sector in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It also aimed at addressing the global challenges outlined in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
The UN World Tourism Day has been celebrated since 1980 on September 27 each year by member states of the UN World Tourism Organisation.
In his address, the Western Regional Manager of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), George Nkrumah Ansere, said tourism was the major source and significant multiplier of labour for skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour.
He explained that the WTD 2019 was a unique opportunity to raise awareness on the need to review and update outdated legislation and regulations that support employment, innovation, entrepreneurship and new business models and also to examine new funding to invest in new technologies for the training for jobs in the present and future.
The day, Mr Ansere added, “will help us to further explore the opportunities provided to tourism through job creation.”
“Tourism is a major source of employment because of its labour intensive nature and the significant effect on employment in Ghana. It also creates jobs in rural and remote areas directly but also indirectly through the preservation and restoration of traditional activities,” he said.
Mr Ansere encouraged the public to take advantage of the numerous jobs tourism provided to reduce the unemployment in the country, stressing that “tourism provides ready market for the agricultural sector and diversify the local economy including the development of deprived or rural areas.”
“Tourism could also improve investor confidence with its role in job creation which is often undervalued despite the benefits tourism provides. This is due to the fact that tourism generates 10 per cent of world’s jobs and is included in the sustainable development goal,” he said.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah noted that, over the years, tourism had experienced a continuous expansion and diversification due to its fast growing nature, but, suggested that new policies were needed to brand and expand the potentials of the sector in Ghana.
These, he hoped, would create more and better jobs and encourage the progress of innovation in tourism to boost job creation among the youth and rural communities and establish tourism innovation centers.
“We also need incentives and programmes, investors and government participation, develop research on changing demand for skills due to the digital revolution, bring together educational institutions, the private sector, government and technology partners to review educational programmes and help create the skills set needed for future work opportunities.” he stated.
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TAKORADI
