Government, through the Ghana Tourism Development Project (GTDP), has launched a Grant Scheme to boost the leisure tourism industry.
The Grant Scheme is an aspect of the GTDP funded by the International Development Association, a World Bank Group.
The $9million World Bank-funded project, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture is intended to provide financial and technical assistance to registered businesses to support the leisure and tourism industry.
According to the ministry, the tourism industry made immense strides in 2019 with a successful implementation of the Year of Return Programme.
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International arrivals reached 1.13million, from 956,372 in 2018, a 27% growth which was above the global average of 5%. The average expenditure per tourist increased from $2,708 in 2018 to $2,931 in 2019.
The advent of the novel coronavirus has adversely affected the achievements of the industry due to the many restrictions such as the closure of borders and ban on social gathering,
The grant scheme has been launched to speciffically address these challenges. Speaking at the launch, Minister for Tourism and Creative Arts, Barbara Oteng Gyasi said the beneficiaries to be supported under the scheme will be Ghanaians indigenous businesses.
Mrs Oteng Gyasi also hinted that the ministry will undertake vigorous monitoring and evaluation exercise to ensure that the funds are used to develop the county’s tourism and hospitality.
She added government has made provision for 3 billion facilities through the banking sector as well as set an Inter-ministerial committee to look into the tourism industry. She was hopeful that proposal, when submitted, will enable the government to come up with an initiative, specially tailored for the industry.
Earlier, President Akufo Addo had, through the NBSSI, launched a stimulus package of Six Hundred Million Ghana Cedis to the private sector to stimulate economic activities of SMEs in the wake of COVID 91.
The keynoter, the honourable Senior Minister Mr Osafo Marfo urged players in the industry to make the most out of the opportunity to further improve the tourism industry despite the COVID-19.
Mr Osafo said the government was supporting the project to improve on Ghana’s tourism infrastructure to attract more visitors as it witnessed during the Year of Return programme in 2019.
Mr Osafo Marfo also called for an “aggressive promotion’ to enable Ghana get a bigger share of tourism in Africa. “We need to take a bigger share because the whole country, by our sociology, is a tourist destination.”
The Grants Scheme comes in three categories. The first is meant for non-publicly owned tourism sites to enhance their aesthetics and appearance. The second is to support Small Enterprises (SE) operating within the tourism industry to help them deal with their challenges to scale and grow, while the third category, the capacity building grant, will address emerging businesses and individuals to help them build their capacities and business ideas.
An estimated one thousand (1,000) businesses are likely to benefit from this grant.
Source: Victoria Enyonam Adonu/ ATL FM NEWS
