The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwesi Agyeman has called for the formation of a ministerial tourism committee, to enhance visa acquisition for tourists entering the country.
Mr. Agyemang said this at the inauguration of a local organizing committee for an upcoming international workshop for surveyors worldwide in Ghana.
He believes strongly that the formation of such a committee will enhance service delivery at inbound countries and also ease visa acquisition for tourists coming to Ghana.
“One of the things that we have proposed, which through our Ministry would be sent to the Cabinet, is the formation of a broad-based inter-ministerial tourism committee, because tourism is one sector that has so many dependencies on other sectors,” he stated.
He added that “people come into Ghana wanting visas and sometimes if you go to the embassy in Germany, Poland and other places, it might take you more than a month to get a visa to come to Ghana and so we need to find ways to enhance service delivery at the inbound countries.”
Extend visa on arrival policy
In May this year, some hoteliers impressed on West African authorities to work to extend the visa on arrival policy to foreign tourists in a bid to boost the sector’s growth.
They argued that the move should also ease the barriers restraining some tourists into the continent.
The comment came on the back of the launch of the Hospitality Africa Report which cited Eastern and Southern Africa as attractive destinations for tourists in Africa.
“As it stands right now, most Europeans and American tourists need visas before visiting Ghana for instance but they wouldn’t need visas to visit East or Southern Africa. As a result these regions are still attracting huge chunks of visitors from the Americas and Europe,” Sales and Marketing Manager at Accra City Hotel, Yaw Mamphey told Citi Business News
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By: Rita Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana