Seven thousand, two hundred and seventy-two tourists patronized this year’s paragliding festival at Kwahu in the Eastern Region as against 124 tourists recorded in 2013.

Data gathered by the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) on the sport during the Easter holidays revealed that the festival had gained popularity and acceptance in the country.

The festival, it noted, has also turned the spotlight on the tourism potential of the Kwahu area.

Throwing more light on the statistics on paragliding during an interaction with the media in Accra over the weekend, Acting Executive Director of GTA, Charles Osei Bonsu, said the development was very vital in evolving planning tourism development strategies in the country.

The statistics also revealed that the number of first time gliders stood at 89.2 per cent, while second time gliders constituted 9.5 per cent of participants.

On the nationality of the Han gliding and paragliding patrons, Ghanaians constituted 51 percent, Germans, 44 percent and Americans 8.1 per cent.

The rest were from India, France, Spain, Canada, Japan, Belgium, China, Austria, Nigeria and Gabon, the UK, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, Denmark, China and Korea.

The tourists were made up of teachers, bankers, businessmen and women, administrators, managers, consultants, soldiers, analysts, students, volunteers among others.

The holding of the festival forms part of efforts by the Ministry of Tourism Culture & Creative Arts to promote ‘Explore Ghana,’ a domestic tourism awareness creation programme.

The Ministry has decided to hold two festivals starting from October.

The corporate paragliding festival is principally targeted at corporate institutions and would be held at the Atibie-Odwenomaa Mountain in the Kwahu South District of the Eastern region.