Tourism Ministry projects US$2.3bn revenue

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MoTAC) is projecting a revenue of US$2.3billion for this year through local and international visitor arrivals.

The ministry indicated the target revenue is possible as it is anticipating one million international tourists this year, and 800,000 domestic visitor-turnouts to various attractions in 2022.

Tourism Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, who was speaking to the B&FT said the target is achievable as the country, despite the height of COVID-19 in 2021, was able to make close to US$2billion revenue from the sector.

“As part of plans, the sector is making strides to create about 150,000 jobs out of tourism and cultural activities this year,” he said.

Despite the ongoing global financial crisis and subsiding of COVID-19, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in its 2022 preliminary travel confidence report has said the recent rise in Omicron variant will temporarily disrupt travel recovery and affect confidence through early 2022.

The report however said most countries, from the second quarter of this year, will bounce back strongly with a revived confidence in the global travel market.

This, Dr. Awal said, requires a lot of creativity and innovation from sector players in Ghana to rake in the needed revenue, considering the financial crisis facing the world.

“If we are able to innovate to bring in the US$2.3billion by close of the year through tourism, we’ll be shoring up the cedi, creating jobs for Ghanaians and making the local economy resilient against all the external shocks and pandemics,” he said.

As part of plans to meet the target, the ministry and Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) will in April this year launch ‘Destination Ghana’ in London.

The launch in London, according to Dr. Awal is intended to drive about one million tourists from Europe into the country.

“This and many initiatives are in the pipeline to ensure that we meet the target for this year,” he said.