01/08/09, 00:29:37 UTC

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“Make Ghana the tourism destination of West Africa, if not of Africa”

accra-mail.com

The Minister for Lands, Forestry and Mines, Madam Esther Obeng Dapaah has appealed to the Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations to direct some of its policies towards community based tourism to help create self employment for local women in the rural areas.

This, she said, would foster well equipped employment opportunities and income generating activities for women and make them financially independent.

Speaking in Accra at the opening ceremony of an exhibition exercise to mark this year’s World Tourism Day, Madam Obeng Dapaah challenged women to develop their skills to improve their economic and social conditions. “Improvement in economic conditions of women means lifting women and their families out of poverty”, she said.

Women and children, she said, are the most vulnerable members of society and the majority of them live in the rural communities

She said although 45 percent of employees in the tourism industry are women, the number is not high enough. The margin, she said, should be equal and called for better gender equality and opportunities for women in all endeavors.

She said women’s participation in economic activities worldwide has considerably improved, with most of them having access to better education and gradually entering into professions which were formerly reserved for men.

“When given equal opportunities, in the next 50 years, women will match one to one with their male counterparts”, she noted.

Madam Obeng Dapaah commended the tourism industry for its vital role in creating enormous flexibility to accommodate women and promote their advancement.

She urged the central and local governments to come together and develop simple strategies for the promotion of community based tourism products.

Madam Obeng Dapaah called for improvement in women’s access to education and training in the areas of marketing, financial and business management.

“Lets ensure that tourism receives the necessary support for accelerated growth and poverty reduction”, she said.

The Deputy Minister for Tourism and Diaspora Relations, Mr. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw said tourism is an important area that is immensely contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) especially in poverty reduction.

The tourism sector, he said, has experienced continuous growth in becoming one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world.

He said according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) report, the volume of business generated in the tourism industry has now overtaken that of oil exports, food products and automobiles. “Tourism has become one of the major players in international commerce and one of the main sources of income for many developing countries”, he said.

In Ghana, tourism ranks 4th as a foreign exchange earner yielding over US$931 million in 2006.

He commended the various community based tourism sites in the country for their roles in helping Ghana earn more foreign exchange and noted that in 2006, 14 community based tourism sites in very remote communities received ¢1.1 billion.

He called for the provision of improved tourism products, well planned infrastructure, redefining sanitation issues and well equipped marketing strategies with adequate resource support and a right attitude in terms of hospitality and morality.

He urged key stakeholders such as ministries, departments and agencies, district assemblies, the private sector, traditional authorities, development partners, NGOs and the media to come together and work with the tourism industry to make Ghana the tourism destination of West Africa, if not of Africa.

 Printable Version  | published Sep 30, 2007