Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi, the deputy head of corporate affairs at the Ghana Tourism Authority has said that it is expected for tourism to project $2.5 billion by the end of 2023 and $4 billion by 2024 ending.
In an interview with Nana Kwame Gyan on Onua FM, Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi pointed out the amount of revenue generated by tourism over the years and the fact that the country is expecting them to do more in the coming years.
“By God’s grace, in 2019, the tourism industry contributed about $3.3 billion. In 2021, it was $2.1 billion and in 2022, $2.3 billion. In 2023, we are expected to project about $2.5 billion by the end of the year and then, when you come to the projection for 2024, we’re looking at $4 billion being pumped into the economy,” he stated.
According to him, the target was achievable because the numbers that came in for only the recently renovated Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park were promising.
“If you look at the numbers that troup into the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, they help for the revenue to increase. From previous times, it’s been close to 98,000 visitors to the park.before the renovation came to the picture, there were a lot of tourists going there. We are looking at getting about 1 million tourists every year for only Kwame Nkrumah Memorial park,” he indicated.
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He also mentioned that the park could generate about $1 billion to add to what the other tourist sites would bring on board. For him, the memorial park needs to make some level of revenue so as to rationalize the money invested in its redevelopment.
“If only 1 million tourists visit the park, we will be able to bring in a lot of money. If we have about 1 million tourists, we can make about $1 billion from the park. We can make a lot of money from the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. We should be able to,” he said.
Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi continued, “The whole thing is that, it would also be in sync with other tourist sites of attraction around. We were given $3 million to renovate the place. If you are able to make something significant, it helps to justify the reason why such money was given to you. These are some of the measures that have been put in place.”
The deputy head of corporate affairs of the Ghana Tourism Authority concluded by speaking on the need for maintenance culture and hinted on the building of “Yaa Asantewaa Museum”.
“Maintenance culture is very important so as to keep the place in check. The Yaa Asantewaa museum will come on,” he concluded.