Accra, Aug. 4, GNA - SPEED Ghana, a GTZ-DANIDA programme in partnership with Touch City Tourism (TCT), has developed and launched an online portal, where Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) can access information on Enterprise Information Service (EIS). It would also enable MSMEs to develop their own websites to market and promote their businesses online. The EIS concept focuses on the creation of an information database on a central platform which validated information is collected, maintained, edited, analyzed and disseminated online. The portal, www.ghanatourismbusiness.com is a business to business portal that stores tourism information received from credible tourism related goods/service providers for electronic distribution and display purposes.

Eric Amankwah, Executive Director of TCT who launched the website at the weekend, underscored the importance of tourism saying it is a major source of income for millions of people in Ghana and abroad. He noted that tourism connects people to build better understanding, between nations and cultures, and noted that it was for that reason that tourism merited TCT's full attention and support. "Tourism belongs to the most dynamic sector of the world economy. We need to fully exploit its growth potential in a sustainable way to the benefit of all citizens especially in developing countries like Ghana. "We should work at being the number one destination in Africa and aim at safeguarding this position," Mr Amankwa said and added that this would allow the sector to play a major role the efforts to create more jobs. He said the portal has brought promising prospects stressing that it is a one-stop-shop for demand-led enterprise information that would assist enterprises to take better business decisions.

Ms Ama Pomaa Andoh, the brain child of the portal, described it as a more user-friendly website, which targets small businesses that are interested in providing a product or service in the tourism sector. She said it was also opened to other related businesses that might be in the tourism sector providing the services to the small businesses in the sector.

Mr Dunwell Eku of SPEED Ghana, said in Ghana investments and job creations might be best achieved by promoting small rather than large tourism firms and noted that the existing literature on tourism entrepreneurship and small firms remain limited. He said before they embarked on introducing EIS to the tourism sector, they took an information demand assessment on 50 MSMEs in the Greater Accra and Central region, from respondents on accommodation, travel and tour agencies, transportation, food and beverage, handicraft, and community based tourism. Mr Eku said a training workshop which preceded the launch, identified market information, financial matters and training, as the three topmost information needed for small businesses to grow. He said participants performed an informant supply assessment to know who was providing what information, their accuracy, mode of dissemination and cost.