The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) together with its stakeholders on Wednesday launched the 2019 edition of the Women in Tourism Summit and the Accra Weizor fair, in Accra.
The summit on the theme: “Empowering women in Ghana’s Tourism Industry” is scheduled for June 27, while the fair on the theme “seamless travel is West Africa” is scheduled for June 28th and June 29.
Mr Isaac Adomako–Mensah, Deputy Executive Director, Finance and Administration, GTA, said both the summit and fair have become part of the major events to promote tourism in the country since their inception.
He said the fair was geared towards getting West Africans to cooperate with each other, and is aimed at creating a seamless travel environment in West Africa by bringing together travel professionals to Accra.
He said the GTA would host delegates coming from nations in the East, West and Southern Africa at a three-day familiarization tour from June 25 and 27.
“The delegates will take a tour of the Greater Accra, Western and Central regions. Places of visit would include Nzulezu, Ankasa Conservation Area, Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, Secondi European Town, and the Cape Coast Castle.”
Mr Isaac Adomako–Mensah noted that the tour programme drawn for them was in tandem with the Authority’s domestic tourism campaign of Eat, Feel, See, and Wear Ghana.
He said tourism was being leveraged in Ghana to mitigate gender inequality, and the GTA aimed to drive women empowerment in Ghana especially in Tourism development through the Women in Tourism Summit.
He said the summit was an opportunity for women operating across the entire tourism value chain to meet their counterparts, share knowledge and learn from each other. It seeks to transform the tourism economy to become a fundamental pillar in advancing the role of women tourism entrepreneurs, professionals and leaders.
“It is important to bring together women game changers, mission driven companies and individuals, professional and leaders in tourism to network and learn more about issues relating to funding, branding, networking, running of businesses and leadership across the entire value chain.”
Mr Isaac Adomako–Mensah congratulated the leaderships of both events, expressing the hope that both events in the long run would accelerate the development of tourism in Ghana and West Africa.
Mr Collins Udolu, Accra Weizor, said the fair had come this far after its inception five years ago, solely by the work of the dedicated team with support of stakeholders looking to enhance the business and tourism environment across Africa.
He said the event has grown to become an event found in every arena of tour operations in West Africa, and has helped change the narrative of West Africa by collaborating and easing business in tourism and aviation
“This year the event would have speakers from Ghana, Nigeria, Dubai, and Uganda.”
Mrs Bella Ahu, president, Ghana Tourism Federation, congratulated the organisers of both events, saying empowering women in tourism was long overdue, and the summit had come at an appropriate time when women empowerment was on the increase in the industry.
She said women wanted to be heard and be listened to, expressing the hope that the second edition would be greater than the first one.
“Five years in the life of every organisation needs to be celebrated, and we believe that participants would take the opportunity to see, eat, feel and wear Ghana.”
By Hafsa Obeng and Dorothy Arhin-Dofo
Source: ghananewsagency.org
