In the quest to give its members the experience of travelling around the world and learning about other cultures, RIP fitness – a United Kingdom-based fitness club – has toured the country with 172 clients who are UK-Caribbeans and wish to reconnect with the motherland.
The Founder of RIP fitness, well-known fitness professional Dave McQueen, noted that the motherland becomes the 50th country his outfit has toured as part of the group’s travelling events.
The group stayed from October 31, 2022 to November 10, 2022 and toured the city of Accra on their first day – subsequently visiting tourist sites including the Elmina Castle, Shai Hills, Boti Falls, the Canopy Walkway and others – and crowned it with an all-African-wear gala night.
They also made a cash donation to the New Saint Thomas complex school in James Town, as they believe “the most important thing when travelling is not only to take, but to give back”.
Speaking about the experience, Mr. McQueen reiterated that the country has a huge tourism potential it still has not harnessed, and a lot can be done to reap gains from intentionally investing in this space.
“Ghana has a huge potential in tourism which it has not tapped into yet, so this is not the last tour in Ghana; I will be coming back with another age-group. It was a fantastic experience,” he said.
One of the participants, Doreen Reeves added: “Ghana has a lot to offer and it should be a tourist resort. There is more to offer here, there is more to it than the history”.
“It’s been an experience here, and the tourism sector is building itself; however, one thing that might help is a standard bus service to make it much easier for people to go around the tourist sites,” Nicoli Forbes said.
Concerns
While the group expressed their excitement about visiting the country and wish for another opportunity to return, they raised concerns about how the processes involved in getting a visa to the country are very tedious as compared to other countries they have visited.
They hold that the processes are cumbersome, because at other places there are different systems and processes for those travelling to do business and a separate one for tourism purposes.
This, said Lawrence Quaye – a lead member of Hamathan Birds, a tourist guide firm, has been the headache of many tourists; and if worked on, it will help the tourism sector.
