Ghana, Italy to co-operate in cultural tourism

Page 31: October 17, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
Ghana has been selected by Italy as one of two West African countries to be supported in the promotion of cultural tourism in the next five years.
The other West African country is Mali.
Ghana’s solid political, social and macro-economic environment resulting in her placing 87th among 178 countries and the first in West Africa in “The Doing Business 2008” report of the World Bank was a contributory factor for her selection.
The decision to choose Ghana was made recently in Italy after the sector minister, Mrs Oboshie Sai-Cofie had presented a paper at a forum on the theme “Developing Africa: An opportunity for Europe, Italy and Sicily” in the Sicilian town of Taomina.
It was organised by Italian consultancy giants, Ambrosetti, under the auspices of the Italian government, with the view to exploring opportunities in Africa to invest in as part of its support to the development of the continent.
A Deputy Director of the Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, Mr Kwabena Asante-Donkor, who accompanied the minister to the forum, told the Daily Graphic in Accra on Wednesday, that the aim of the forum was to analyse how Italy could become a bridge between Europe and Africa, with regard to economic and social issues and how Italy and Europe could enhance Africa’s growth.
He said based on the selection of Ghana, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was being prepared to be signed between the two countries, indicating the kind and level of support needed to promote cultural tourism.
He said under the project, Italy would provide the impulse by creating business opportunities with mutual benefit to Africa and Europe through highlighting the historical/cultural wealth of Ghana and identifying innovative tourist circuits from a cultural standpoint.
Mr Asante-Donkor said Italy observed that given the competitive nature of the “race for Africa”, it would have to make its relations with Africa more competitive through strong, unitary long-term strategies, identifying fields of mutual interest in which to develop European and Italian-based initiatives, with the involvement of both private and public institutions of the two continents.
Mr Asante-Donkor said the project would be in line with the ministry’s development programme for developing sites in rural areas to attract international interest.
He said the ministry saw tourism as an important lever for creating wealth and employment with the possibility of generating 300,000 new jobs with a fully developed tourism sector.
In her presentation, Mrs Sai-Cofie said tourism was the fourth largest foreign exchange earner for Ghana with more than $1.2 billion in receipts from its 586,612 arrivals.
She said Ghana’s destinations provided a variety mainly based on nature and culture with a rich mix of historical events and monuments.
She said a recent survey indicated that as much as 62 per cent of tourists visiting Ghana was because of her culture.
“What this translates to is that the sector is responsible for a huge percentage of the $1.2 billion the country received in 2007,” she noted.
Mrs Sai-Cofie said funding for tourism infrastructure, training and capacity building of operators were the major challenges facing the tourism sector.