World Tourism Market in London

Minister of Travel and Diasporan Relations, Oboshie Sai Cofie, who lead a delegation from the Ministry and a team of Ghanaian private tour operators to participate in the renowned World Tourism Market (WTM) at the Excel Centre in London has described the event as very successful and beneficiary to Ghana. She noted that the show in London was another fine opportunity for them to constantly remind the world that Ghana abounds in many natural, historical, cultural, and traditional attractions that need to be seen, felt and experienced.

The event, which took place last month, brought together practitioners and experts in tourism under one roof to showcase the tourism potential of their various countries.

The WTM is an annual show that also provides the opportunity for international tourists and tourism investors to meet with the country-practitioners to discuss possible investment opportunities and up and coming programmes, activities and events.

The Minister who joined about 200 Ministers and senior aides to attended the second UNWTO Summit and the WTM Global Economic Forum, hosted by WTM, said Ghana has consistently participated in the WTM since 1991, and has derived many benefits from it, citing the 18 per cent increase in tourist arrivals in the country last year as an example of participating in the WTM. She said the Ministers’ Summit examined how best to take action on the economic misery without losing sight of main concerns such as climate change and poverty reduction.

At the fair in London, the Minister granted interviews to some major international media and also met West African public/private sector operators on joint promotional programmes in the sub-region.

Mrs. Sai Cofie mentioned that the meeting was a measure of WTM’s responsibility in helping to lead the international industry that it was once again chosen as the backdrop for such an important occasion, saying that the conclusion of these meeting deliberations will infiltrate government opinion and course of action for the tourism industry in years to come.

Ghana, she said, also played host to a cross-section of exhibitors as the country celebrated its day at the fair with a grand display of the country's culture and other tourism potentials, such as cuisine, music, dancing amongst other things.

Briefing this reporter on her return, the Minister said Ghana’s participation in this year’s event was crucial, especially as the country prepares to host the 2009 edition of the United Nations World Tourism Day.

“We made ourselves visible to the many international tourists who visited the show and built on the successes of the previous years with the Ghana 2008 football fiesta, Ghana at 50 celebrations, the UNCTAD XII and AGOA conferences and the many others, all of which helped boost the sector”, she noted.

She noted that in order to consolidate the gains the country has made so far in the tourism sector, they need to also play on the international level to actively promote the uniqueness of the attractions, stressing that there is a lot of international competition out there and “we need to be seen and market our programmes for the coming year vigorously”.

The Minister indicated that apart from hosting the UNWTO Day next year that will be along side with PANAFEST / Emancipation Day celebrations, Ghana will host many important international tourism events next year, there is also a major international music festival being planned, the annual Easter Kwahu Para-gliding event and many other activities.

The Minister advocated that whilst government intensifies its commitment to create an enabling policy atmosphere for tourism development and also helps promote it internationally, practitioners and tourism enterprises in Ghana should provide the high quality services expected by all. “Industry practitioners must strive to meet both local and international visitor expectations”, she said.

Presently, tourism’s contribution to Ghana’s GDP is about four per cent. It is the fourth highest foreign exchange earner to the country and employs over 220,000 persons in the country.

Globally, tourism is the fastest growing sector and one of the few which cuts across all economic sectors. In the next two years, Ghana expects to hit a target of a million international tourists with foreign exchange earnings of over USD1.5 billion. It is also one of government’s policy tools to use pro-poor tourism to fight poverty in the country.

Ghana was among the over 47,000 exhibitors and visitors that took part in this year's WTM, which took place at the Excel Exhibition Centre, East London. Some of the private sector operators that attended the fair were the Ghana Hotels Association, Home Tours, Connect World Tours, Apstar Travel and Tours, Mibes Hospitality and Tours, Sunseekers Tours.

Ghana's objective for participating in the WTM was to create international awareness as the preferred tourism destination in the West African sub-region and, increase tourist arrivals into the country, especially from the United Kingdom, a major source market whose’ arrivals stood at almost 70,000 in 2006, and other generating markets.

It also sought to generate business for private sector operators, as well as network, research and get updated on current trends in the tourism industry. One of the main highlights of this year's WTM is the observance of the World Responsible Tourism Day which aims at providing the travel industry with a full day of hard-hitting truths to increase awareness of responsible tourism. Ghana and Uganda have been praised for showing positive signs of good performance for this year. Where Ghana, is said to have claimed good results for the first few months of this year, due to the expanded air capacity as well as hosting of soccer's Africa Cup of Nations and the UNCTAD XII.