TOURISM

Challenges facing the tourism industry in Ghana.

The tourism industry is beset with scores of challenges. These include; poor marketing of Ghana as a destination; lack of Ghana Tourism Brand; low awareness of the potential of tourism as a viable economic sector; poor infrastructure especially poor condition of access roads to tourist sites; inadequate funding from government for the sector; and inadequate skilled manpower as well as lack of professionalism to enhance service delivery. Paucity budgetary allocation, lack of logistics, poor human resource base, lack of domestic awareness and patronage, waste management, lack of corporate support, lack of favourable credit facilities, the perception of tourism as a high risk sector, quality products and services, lack of branding, marketing and a respectable attractive tourism image abroad, rampant road accidents among others are myriad of problems that the Ghanaian tourism sector has to contend with.

Other challenges include poor institutional commitment, collaboration and support for tourism development at the District level; slow private sector investment in the sector; limited capacity and access to credit especially women entrepreneurs such as caterers and local fast food vendors; poor waste management and sanitation especially in the major cities; Ghana perceived as a high cost destination in the sub- region due to relatively high air fares and hotel tariffs; and low budget allocation.