The Car Rental Association of Ghana (CRAG) has held its maiden forum to promote tourism and hospitality in Ghana via the use of Car Rental services.
The aim of the forum was to engage stakeholders in the car rental and tourism industries to address issues pertaining to car rentals in Ghana and how these could help boost the tourism and hospitality industry of Ghana.
In a presentation, Seth Yeboah Ocran, President of CRAG and CEO of Yoks-rent-a-car said there is the need to restructure the membership of CRAG to capture all car rental companies in Ghana under one umbrella. ‘’We are embarking on a national membership drive starting from Accra and after reorganizing the members in the capital we will activate the regional membership drive until all operators who meet the minimum requirements for both Ghana Tourism Authority and CRAG are brought on board,” Mr. Ocran said.
The occasion was also used to solicit for funding from amongst the car rental and insurance companies present as well as discuss major challenges facing their prospective industries including the price of renting these cars.
“Renting a car is very high in terms of cost and if we are able to get better financing, if we are able to get reduced insurance premiums, if we are able to get fast and reliable maintenance cost to reduce the time a vehicle spends at the workshop, all these could reduce our rates. So we are going to engage the various stakeholders to ensure that we get reduced rates for the services in order to promote domestic tourism. I believe that once the indigenes can move freely to our tour sites and it is affordable, you could speak to a friend somewhere outside Ghana and say that I have a wonderful place to take you and all that and that can only be done if it is affordable,” he added.
In suggesting ways to reduce cost in the car rental industry, the Executive Chairman of the Eurostar Global Limousines, Oscar Yao Doe said “we could lobby government to provide tax exemption for cars that are imported to be used for renting purposes. Government must be made to appreciate and understand that car rental businesses can be used as a huge tool for enhancing domestic tourism and projecting the country as a preferred tourist destination.”
This forum, is a package of a series of action plans to be executed by CRAG and selected stakeholders to create a significant contribution to the hospitality and tourism industry as well as the economy of Ghana through car rentals.
