GHANA’S RANKING ON WORLD TOURISM, HOW CAN WE DO BETTER?
Tourism is not only one of the sectors where the multiplier effect is high. In layman’s words multiplier effect means ‘what is the total increase in the economy when money is spent in a particular sector’.
Also one big advantage is that tourism is labor intensive, so it creates more jobs than other sectors and best of all, you don’t need to make costs to export: the customers (tourists) are coming to bring their money to you.
So tourism is a good way to development of the African continent in general and Ghana in particular.
Looking at African tourism “giants” we first think about South Africa, but still even South Africa is only ranking number 53 in size in the world of tourism, followed by Tanzania, Uganda and Namibia. La Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon and Mozambique are on the rise.
Considering the size and the rich cultural and natural resources of Africa, the 29 million tourists visiting the continent is low. From a business perspective, the untapped potential of the region could be an opportunity with expected returns potentially higher than other already mature destinations.
Air connectivity and Air Travel cost are the largest challenges, protectionist linked to their national carriers, high taxes and levies of some African nations block development of Tourism. Over 60% of the African Airport charges are double and more than the costs on the other continents.
The simple fact that the largest 5 tourism countries in Africa also maintain the lowest airport taxes are proof that tourism flourishes when costs are lower.
Lack of international openness is a further area that requires policy attention at the regional level. In addition to open-skies policies, in many cases visa policies are still very restrictive, especially in West Africa, leading to blocking development of tourism.
Cultural richness in African countries, cultural sites and intangible expressions could be better combined with the rich natural capital available. South Africa is the only African nation that performs above the world average. Natural resources are badly protected and deforestation and habitat loss are becoming problematic in some countries, this is reducing safari possibilities in all these countries.
Ivory Coast ranks 109th on the index, rising eight places, visa liberalization policy is the main reason that the country went up 8 places compared to the previous year.
Ghana being number 6 in West-Africa and number 120 worldwide, should be able to improve, by seriously lowering visa costs and visa obstacles but especially by reducing the transit costs at the airport.
That should be the main task for the Minister of Tourism and Minister of Aviation because although both are creating a lower direct income the multiplier effect of growth of tourism into Ghana will easily make up for the difference.
