Accra, May 11, GNA - Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Minister of Tourism on Monday called for a more proactive public-private-partnership among players in the tourism industry to strategically market the country for maximum returns. She said occurrences such as the world economic recession, epidemics, among others, had made many countries to resort to tourism for revenue, making the sector to become more competitive.

Mrs. Azumah-Mensah made the call at a meeting with tour operators and hoteliers in Accra to review a three-year marketing strategy to redirect and strengthen the marketing efforts of both public and private sectors to increase tourists' arrivals in the country. The marketing strategy is also aimed to deal with the challenges faced by industry players when participating in international fairs and exhibitions.

The Minister said there was a growing demand for new forms of tourism and also to visit new tourist destinations that offered new experiences to tourists, adding that, Ghana should cease "this moment to firmly establish herself in the market". She said Ghana still had the chance to become the tourism hub of West Africa because she had more tourism potentials which were yet to be explored.

Mrs. Azumah-Mensah said the Ministry had set up a committee to collaborate with other sectors of government to address challenges including tourism infrastructure, communication facilities, water, and electricity to improve the sector. She said plans were underway to set up a tourism development fund which had been on the drawing board for over ten years now, to support tourism related activities in the country. She called on the stakeholders to critically scrutinize the marketing strategy document and make necessary inputs to guide its implementation.

Mrs Gifty Kwansa, Chief Marketing Officer of the Ghana Tourist Board who presented the document for review called for government's commitment to address the challenges facing the sector. Mrs Kwansa said considering the country's infrastructure to support tourism in terms of marketing, the country could be said to have not even laid foundation to promote the sector. The document, which will be launched officially next month, highlights lack of international information offices on tourism, poor infrastructure, lack of service and professional tourist orientation as some of the challenges facing the sector.