The Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs. Catherine Abelema Afeku, has announced plans to roll out a comprehensive human resource training and development policy in 2018.
This, according to her, will be key in the transformation drive of the tourism industry.
She said: “We are looking at capacity building of our staff across the country for them to deliver the services required of them. We will also train personnel in the hospitality sector to be abreast of relevant technologies, especially the apps and quality customer care as well as all the nitty-gritties in the sector.”
Mrs. Afeku was speaking to journalists at the Biennial Congress of the Senior Staff of the Ghana Tourism Authority, held in Sunyani.
“At the heart of our development agenda is human resource capacity building. Through GTA staff do we get quality assurance and proper management of the various tourist sites.”
The Tourism Minister observed that with the rich industry potential, coupled with the right caliber of personnel, bequeathed with the necessary skills, Ghana should be able to improve its competitiveness in the global tourism industry.
“Countries that have taken the lead in tourism have done that as a result of dynamic culture and excellent human resource performance. We must replicate this in Ghana to position the country as one of the preferred tourism destinations in Africa,” he said.
Addressing the congress, she urged GTA staff to brace themselves for the use of technology since it is the way to go. “The advancement of the Single Window Destination would be critical to our competitiveness. GTA staff must show utmost commitment to that project when implemented.”
She further stated that the ministry will be working in collaboration with MMDAs to develop tourism sites across the country, explaining: “We have notified all the 275 MPs to work with their Assemblies and identify at least one tourism site. The ministry will thereafter hire tourism officers to man those sites.”
On his part, the Acting CEO of GTA, Kwasi Agyemang, recounted the transformation and achievements of the authority in the last ten months, indicating that the bulk of GTA’s GH¢4 million debt has been settled, remaining GH¢1.2 million.
For 2018, there will be massive organisational restructuring, investing in viable projects and exploring other sources of income to generate more revenue, he added.
