VEEP envisions tourism as key to achieve MDG

Accra, April 20, GNA - Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama on Thursday envisioned the Tourism Sector as the backbone of Ghana's drive to reduce poverty under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He said the Sector was young but expanding to meet the country's desire to make it the biggest breadwinner.

Vice President Mahama was speaking during a meeting with Ms Dho Young-Shim, the South Korean Ambassador (Minister) of Tourism and Sports at a meeting at the Osu Castle.

Ms Young-Shim, who is also the Chairman of the Korea Culture and Tourism Policy Institute, is in the country to facilitate the implementation of the global Sustainable Tourism - Eliminating Poverty (STEP) Project.

Vice President Mahama said Ghana's aim, was to tap the vast tourism market in Asia, and said jokingly that: "As the Continent which constitutes one-third the population of the world even 001 per cent of that market is enough for Ghana."

He asked Ms Young-Shim to spearhead the drive for tourists to sandwich Ghana as their tourism destination. Ms Young said the Tourism Sector was a viable means of salvaging the image of Africa as a Continent of poverty and diseases. She said STEP was creating multi-tourism destinations in Africa to bridge the vast geographical gap between tourists in Asia and the Continent, explaining "I have to use 20 hours flying from South Korea to Ghana."

Ghana, Togo and Democratic Republic of Congo, which are the destination points under the project are tasked to identify projects that are poverty driven for implementation through the Korea based STEP Foundation.

Ms Young said as part of measures to celebrate 30 years of Ghana and South Korea relations, her country was planning to lure more tourists and entrepreneurs to the West African State. Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and the Modernisation of the Capital City, who was present at the meeting, thanked the Ambassador for donating football kits to teams at James Town in Accra.

The World Tourism Organisation and the United Nations launched STEP during a meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Germany in 2003 as a tool for eliminating poverty.

It is focusing on long term programmes to encourage and sustain development in the social, economic and ecological spheres to create jobs and generate income for communities earning less than one dollar a day.