Tourism sector has recovered strongly from Covid-19 – CEO of Ghana Tourism Authority
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Akwasi Agyeman has said the tourism sector in general has strongly bounced back from the setbacks and devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking in an interview on TV3’s New Day, July 5, 2024, Akwasi Agyeman explained that indicators such as international arrivals, domestic numbers and others for last year’s tourism sector report shot up and, in some cases, exceeded pre-pandemic era.
The CEO of the GTA is confident that Ghana’s tourism sector is on the path of getting to the top with its incremental growth over the last few years despite the existing challenges.
“Generally, I would say that we have recovered strongly from COVID. Last year, our report that we put out said strong recovery…all the various indicators show that we have managed to recovered and, in some cases, beating pre-pandemic levels.
“If you compare 2019 to 2023, you will clearly see that we have done a good job with that. The sector for me is one that got potential. If you ask me, I will say the glass is half full rather than half empty because every year we see growth, sometimes in excess of 55%,” he stated.
Ghana’s economy just like the global economy was hit hard by the covid-19 pandemic shutting down the tourism sector and all planned activities to boost tourism.
The 2023 tourism sector report highlighted that the sector’s total revenue plummeted to a record low of $387 million in 2020, marking an 88% decrease due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2021, the revenue went up to $2.1 billion in 2021, a figure which was low compared to the pre-pandemic era.
However, the sector seems to be recovering as there were positive indicators of recovery with an increase in both average tourist expenditure to $2,743 and sector receipt to $2.7 billion by 2022.
The 2023 Tourism sector report forecasted that in 2023, the average tourist expenditure would rise to $3,746.65, translating to a projected sector revenue of $3.8 billion, a significant 51.9% increase from the previous year.
