An effective partnership between government and the private sector in the tourism industry can immensely hike employment creation for the youth, says Mr Gerard Paul Guy Schraven, General Manager of Royal Senchi Hotel.
According to him, hospitality firms and the Tourism Ministry could strike a more effective partnership to boost Ghana’s tourism potentials towards enhancing economic growth and job creation.
Such partnership, he said needs to be undertaken with the support of rigorous research and product development to make Ghana’s tourism industry more attractive and competitive in Africa.
Mr Schraven gave the suggestion in an interview with ADR Daily on the effect of tourism on the economy of Ghana.
Ghana, he said, is not different from Kenya and other high tourist destination countries, adding that Ghana has many esthetic tourist attraction sites that could be upgraded and advertised at the international level.
He expressed great optimism that the current influx of international hotels in the country, offers an indicator that hoteliers have identified high tourism prospects in the country.
According to him, the next phase should be for the government to make huge investment in the tourism sector through advertisement and creation of more congenial environment for businesses in the industry to thrive.
“The Ministry must engage in a strategic approach to add value and offer a boost to the sector,” he stressed.
In addition, he said the Ministry and its agencies must not only be interested in attracting tourists but must also be concerned in the education of the citizenry to adopt practices that support and both boost domestic and foreign tourism.
“Already, most hotels are engaged in training of their staff in excellent service delivery and receptiveness to guest as they are usually the first point of call to most tourists and their attitude will go a long way in building a positive or negative impression about the country” he said.
Mr Schraven indicated that the Royal Senchi is already taking the lead in this area by improving their facilities by adding new amenities.
He said, “the hotel has recently opened a new golf practice range that offers night golfing and also developed a shooting range and a 35 acre Island with a nature trail that has over 50 bird species and picnic site for families.”