Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Kenya and others have all kicked Ghana out in the top 10 tourist destinations in Africa.
Ghana’s challenges have been plainly listed in the 2013-2027 tourism plan. A general lack of proper documentation of the number of people visiting the country from various sources, unsanitary conditions at the various sites.
The poor quality of professionals in the sector and the fact that it is expensive travelling to Ghana and to the destinations.
Lessons
Dubai for 2018 saw over 20 million people travel to the country and one of the things the country did was to cut out visa requirement for two countries they noticed brought in the numbers by giving visa on arrival.
It also saw its numbers shoot up from India because it used India’s top actor Shah Rukh Khan in an advert promoting Dubai.
From the oil-rich country, Ghana could learn how oil money has been used to develop the tourism sector. Maybe some of the heritage funds could go there.
South Africa was second in the ranking, what it had was not different from Ghana, a wildlife safari, the mole game reserve is a hot spot for Ghana but roads leading there are simply bad, not making it attractive.
Ghana’s rich history of slavery is expected to be harnessed this year as the country celebrates 400 years of slavery. The year has been declared in the 2019 budget as the year of return.
As part of it, a national carrier was expected to be in place to carry visitors in September but at the current rate of discussion with Ethiopian airlines it does not look like the deadline will be met.
Rank Country International tourist arrivals (2018)
1 Morocco 12.3 million
2 South Africa 9.5 million
3 Tunisia 6.2 million
4 Algeria 2.7 million
5 Mozambique 1.8 million
6 Zimbabwe 1.8 million
7 Kenya 1.4 million
8 Uganda 1.2 million
9 Namibia 1.1 million
10 Senegal 1.0 million