The Ghana Tourism Authority’s (GTA) office in the Northern Region has put in place strategies to reboot the tourism sector when a clear roadmap is seen after COVID-19.
The authority is building capacity of the hospitality industry players, liaising with the traditional authorities to rehabilitate tourism sites, ensure the hospitality facilities are renovated to meet the standard, as well educating the various assemblies on the need to contribute in development of the sector.
The authority also has planned to liaise with the urban road authorities to help construct road networks leading to the sites to encourage more investors and tourists to help boost business activities.
The GTA’s Northern Regional Marketing Officer, Kennis Ateere of GTA, told the B&FT in an interview that the tourism industry in the region generates a lot of revenue to the players, communities and the nation from the tourists and the investors – but the current outbreak has hampered activities, making it difficult for the sector to sustain its growth.
He therefore called for the establishment of district offices to monitor activities of the industries in the various districts for effective and efficient supervision, since the regional office is far from the districts – making it difficult to ensure all the players meet required standards.
He said the authority has been embarking on routine inspections at the various facilities to ensure all adhere to the directives to prevent spread of the disease; and any facility that flouts the directives will have the place of business closed down.
He reiterated that the office has been making efforts in collaborating with the various stakeholders on educating the operators and general public on the pandemic and measures to adopt to prevent one from getting infected. He urged the industry players to collaborate with authorities to ensure the safety of staff and citizens.
