The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) Mr. Akwesi Agyemang has announced that the authority will roll out some activities in the coming months to improve patronage of the tourism and hospitality industry.
Reacting to a question during a panel discussion at the AKWAABA Forum as part of the Citi Business Festival, Mr. Agyemang was hopeful the new steps will positively impact on the industry, raking in the needed revenue.
“Some of the critical next steps that we are embarking upon are the industry service charter which will be available for the industry by the end of July. We are creating a tourism hotline,” he said.
He added that “currently there is no avenue for visitors who visit some of our attraction sites to give feedback. So they rather go on social media and say I went here and it was crap, or I did this and I had this service”
Mr. Agyemang assured that the authority and the Ministry will create a platform to collate all feedbacks from visitors to address their grievances.
“We are going to create a hotline so that we can track service standards and delivery. It is something that by mid August should be up and running,” he said.
He announced that the sector ministry will also launch a new campaign to encourage domestic and foreign visits of Ghana’s tourist sites.
“See Ghana, Eat Ghana, Feel Ghana, Wear Ghana is campaign that we are launching and I invite all of you to be part of it. We are launching this on the 30th of June. It is a platform to position ‘I am a Ghanaian’, to position the various things that we do,” he said.
The AKWAABA panel
The panel at the AKWAABA Forum was made up of the CEO of the Ghana Tourism Authority(GTA) Mr. Akwesi Agyemang, Managing Director, Jumia Travel West Africa, Mr. Kushal Dutta, Tourism Writer Kofi Akpabli, and Professor Kwaku Boakye, from the Department of Tourism and Hospitality at University of Cape Coast(UCC).
During the discussion, the panel identified a number of challenges that militate against the growth of the tourism and hospitality industry.
Mr. Akpabli for example bemoaned the poor service delivery in the hospitality industry.
“You work in a hotel, you work in a restaurant and someone orders a dish and you can’t tell how long that dish takes to get ready. If you are asked how long it will take, you hear, oh right now. It doesn’t help because the person needs to make a decision, could he go back to his hotel room and send a quick meal before coming back to that meal,” he complained.
He advised that the hospitality industry must attach professionalism to their work to encourage the visitors in returning to the facility.
On his part, the Managing Director, Jumia Travel West Africa, Mr. Kushal Dutta pointed out that Ghana needs to improve the infrastructure along tourist sites to reduce the difficulties in accessing such areas.
“Some of the challenges we have had is the infrastructure development along these sites. Sometimes it is too difficult to reach these places due to poor road networks,” he said.
Calling for an improvement through research Professor Kwaku Boakye, from the Department of Tourism and Hospitality at University of Cape Coast pushed for the application of research findings to enhance the tourism industry to meet the needs of tourists.
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By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana