The Role Of Women In Tourism

MINISTRY OF TOURISM AND DIASPORAN RELATIONS

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The theme for 2007 World Tourism Day seeks to highlight the opportunities in the travel sector for women around the world.

In the bid for the Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations to secure data and information regarding employment in the tourism sector a study was constituted to obtain first hand information on employment composition in two regions of the country.

This study provides the basis for future research in the area of employment in the sector.

2.0 BACKGROUND TO TOURSM DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA

It is now less than a decade to go to the 2015 target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals as envisaged by governments, donor agencies and civil society.

The eight-point goals, as encapsulated in the policy agenda, deal with poverty reduction, overcoming gender inequalities and malnutrition, amongst others.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS I & II) highlight the benchmarks for measuring progress made towards improving the quality of life of the poor, the marginalized and vulnerable in society, especially women and children on a sustainable basis.

From the standpoint of tourism enthusiasts, the industry's increasing growth demonstrates its potential to help reduce poverty.

The linkage between poverty and tourism underscores the recognition of tourism development as a major socio-economic and environmental activity at the global, national and local levels.

The global trend shows an increased tourist arrival and receipts making tourism the fastest growing activity rather than oil and manufacturing.

It is also evident that tourism provides opportunities for the poor to gain access to jobs, participation in decision making, income and gender inequalities all of which act as barriers against women.

Although tourism in Ghana is still a growing industry, it is considered as one of the socio-economic pillars that are generating foreign exchange earnings, creating job opportunities, especially for women.

It is currently demonstrating an annual growth rate of 12 percent and accounting for nearly 4 percent of the GDP. Available data showed that international tourist arrivals increased from 271,310 in 1994 to 650,000 in 2004; yielding a corresponding receipt of USD227.6m and USD800m respectively (see table 1 below).

The performances in the industry underscore the resolve by the Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations to harness the potentials of tourism resources in the country.

It is well established that Ghana's competitive advantage lies in its cultural and natural heritages and all these are being developed and managed on a sustainable basis as emphasized in the 15- year National Tourism Development Plan (1996-2010), the 4- year National Tourism Strategic Plan (2003- 2007) and the Draft National Tourism Policy.

The broad policy thrust states as follows:
“ To develop tourism as a leading socio- economic sector of Ghana and make the country as a good quality, internationally competitive tourist destination, within the framework of maintaining its permanent sustainability” Ministry of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City , 2003:7).

The Ministry's vision is encapsulated as follows:
To support and promote the achievement of the overall vision of the Government of Ghana aimed at achieving a per capita income of USD$1,000 by 2015 through the realization of the sector's full potential in contributing to economic wealth creation, employment generation, poverty reduction, environment conservation, as well as well as national and international cohesion.

Following from this, the Ministry's mission is to create a conducive and favourable environment for sustainable growth and development that would ensure -

1. the tourism sector achieve a greater contribution to GDP growth through effective and efficient use of appropriate policies, corporate planning, programmes, and projects as well as public-private partnership, and
2. Sustainable relationship with the Diaspora for resource mobilization and investment.
This vision will be achieved through the Ministry's effort to generate 20% growth rate per annum by 2015.
Consequently, the following key objectives will be pursued:
1. To promote tourism as a major source of national revenue
2. To enhance capacity and strengthen the legal and institutional framework to support tourism industry
3. To promote institutional and human resource capacity building in tourism industry
4. To promote sustainable tourism to preserve historical, cultural and natural heritage
5. To support tourism industry with ICT and multimedia technology
6. To. Modernize the Capital City to attract investment and tourism
7. To promote good governance within the tourism industry
8. To promote effective relationship with the diaspora
According to the World Tourism and Travel Council tourism created 214,697,000 direct jobs in 2004, constituting 8.1 percent of total global employment in the global formal sector. In the context of Ghana, available data over the years depict increased total employment in the tourism sector as illustrated in table 1 below.