By Ebi Kesiena
Ghana has recorded 247,834 international tourist arrivals in the first quarter of this year.
According to the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), the increase was influenced by arrivals from the United States of America, India, Nigeria, China, Britain, Germany, Liberia and the Netherlands.
It represents a 45.19 per cent increase over the 170,696 arrivals for the same period last year.
Although higher than last year’s arrivals, the figure is still below the record 256,457 arrivals for the same period in 2019 during the implementation of the Year of Return.
With the growth in figures, some industry stakeholders have projected that the country would be able to meet its 1.2 million tourist arrival targets for 2023.
Data sourced from the GTA show fluctuations in international tourist arrivals in the country between the first quarters of 2019 and 2023.
The Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Operations at the GTA, Ekow Sampson, in an interview, stated that the country would continue to attract international tourists owing to key interventions, policies and investments being implemented by the government.
“When you look at the numbers, we have successfully doubled our tourist arrivals over the previous year.
“All things being equal, we are going to exceed the one million tourist arrival level and even meet the target for the year which is 1.2 million
‘‘That meant that the country would be able to cross the one million target set for tourist arrival this year,” he said.
Sampson explained that the increase in the number could be attributed to sound policies by the government over the years to grow the tourism sector as a key revenue generator for the country.
He said efforts of the GTA, the industry regulator and other supporting agencies in the industry had culminated in the growth.
“Marketing promotions and initiatives such as Year of Return, Beyond the Return, Destination Ghana, among other programmes, have made a positive impact,” Mr Sampson said.
“The GTA is very happy that the country has been positioned as home for diasporans seeking to visit and do business within the African continent,” he added.
