TOURISM BRINGS IN U$1.6 BILLION (PAGE 15, OCT 23, 2010)

A total of 802,779 tourists visited Ghana last year, generating revenue of U$1,615.2 billion for the country.
The tourism industry thus contributes significantly to the Ghanaian economy, through such means as corporate, income and value added taxes, as well as the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) licence fees and airport service charges.
This contribution by the tourism industry was because the accommodation (hotel) sector plays a very crucial role with respect to the tourism industry’s contribution to the economy.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the GTB, Mr Charles Obeng, announced this at the opening of the third National Executive Council meeting of the Ghana Hotels Association (GHA) at Techiman.
He said the average tourist expenditure on accommodation had always been above 25 per cent since 1996.
That expenditure, according to Mr Obeng, was actually the highest compared to other expenditure items such as local transportation, shopping, food and beverage, entertainment, among others, and that the importance of the accommodation sector, therefore, could not be overemphasised.
The theme for the meeting, which was organised under the auspices of P.Z. Cussons Ghana Limited, was: ‘‘Establishing Professional Standards in the Hotel Industry’’.
He stressed the need for the hotels to strive to maintain highest standards to meet the demands of their clientele, as standards could be looked at in terms of quality, safety and authenticity.
Mr Obeng said even though there were specific standards covering beaches, tour guides, protected areas, many of the tourism standards focused on accommodation, and gave an assurance that the GTB would collaborate with the GHA executives to inspect facilities of members to ensure that standards were met, provide information for performance review, increase quality awareness, as well as improve customer satisfaction.
He stressed that most of the difficulties experienced in service delivery arose from the need for hotels to understand what the customer needed and when the service was needed and thereafter, to employ the necessary processes to convert those needs into the service.
To that end, the GTB regional director appealed to the national executive council to partner the board to organise periodic training programmes for their staff to bring about continued improvement in service delivery.
Mr Obeng said in recent times the regional office had been encouraging groups such as tourist clubs, students and church groups to visit tourist sites as a way of boosting domestic tourism.
He said to make that drive sustainable, hotels could give discounts and other packages, especially during off seasons, to those domestic tourists.
Those packages, he said, would make travels affordable to potential tourists leading to increased travels and thereby, increasing the market share of the hospitality industry.
He added that developing and even retaining one’s market share had become an increased priority on the agenda of most hotels.
The regional director said it was of utmost importance for hotels to develop consistent destination management approach with a clear tourism product definition oriented towards sustainability and new market trends.
Mr Herbert Acquaye, the newly elected National President of the GHA, noted that the cost of operating a hotel facility kept rising as a result of high energy and maintenance costs.
‘‘Our turnover seems to be on the decline, as we rely on very few business visitors,“ he said.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Chairman of the association, Mr Philip Ntiamoah, in his welcoming address, called on metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives to take a critical look at some of the deplorable roads leading to the locations of hotels in their respective areas.
A 10-member national executive council was sworn into office to run affairs of the association for the next four years.