Tourism to generate over US$6 billion per annum – Mohammed Awal
The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal has said the country could rake in between six and seven billion dollars if the government remains focused on developing and maintaining tourist sites.
Delivering a speech during the commissioning of the redeveloped Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, the government appointee remarked that the Akufo-Addo government has been keen to make Ghana the most preferred tourism destination on the continent.
Acknowledging that “The big boys of Africa in terms of tourism; Morrocco, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Senegal all have their own tourist attractions. They have the wildlife; they have the beaches. Ghana has heritage and political tourism”, the minister said the country is leveraging its unique attractions to position itself as the go-to country for tourists.
Among others, he mentioned that the “Osu Castle will be modernized” next year. “And we are going to link all these; Kwame Nkrumah Park, Osu Castle and National Museum, Forts and Castles” to make the agenda a reality.
“If we continue as we’re going, over the next two years, tourism will generate between six to seven billion dollars per annum,” he said. “We’re going to contribute 150,000 jobs every year.”
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday, 4th July 2023, commissioned the renovated and modernised Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, a year after he cut the sod for the commencement of work on the project.
The Park, which was built in 1991 and opened to the public in 1992, in the time of the 1st President of the 4th Republic, His Excellency the late Jerry John Rawlings, had not seen any renovation since then, resulting in significant deterioration of the edifice.
It is for this reason that President Akufo-Addo instructed the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture to close it down temporarily for renovation to be undertaken.
Addressing the gathering at the ceremony, the President noted that the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park has not only been renovated, but it has also been completely modernised to befit the status of the final resting place of the man who led us to independence in 1957, and became Ghana’s first President, the justly-celebrated Kwame Nkrumah.
“The Park now has facilities including a presidential library, receptive facility, mini-amphitheater, restaurant, freedom wall, and a digitalised payment and access system. The mausoleum has also been fully refurbished, with the tombstone upgraded, and the museum expanded with an audiovisual tunnel. There is also an upgraded VVIP lounge, expanded recreational area, a modernized gift shop, and a fountain area with synchronised audiovisuals, the first of its kind in West Africa,” he said.
The President continued, “The thirty million cedi (GH¢30million) modernised Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park is in line with plans by Government to make the Park one of the best tourism and heritage attractions in West Africa. As the outstanding pan-Africanist of his generation, the burial site of Dr. Nkrumah must be appropriate to his status and exceptional contribution to the liberation of Africa from colonialism and imperialism.”
The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, which attracted some ninety thousand visitors annually before the renovation, is now expected to attract over one million tourists annually.
ghanaweb.com
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