Human resource development vital for the nation – Mr Ekow Sampson

Mr Ekow Sampson, President of the Senior

Staff Association of the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) has said that effective and

efficient human resource was the backbone for the development of every business

organization.
He has therefore appealed to government to train the staff of the Board to sustain

the industry.
Mr Sampson was addressing the opening of the 6th Biennial Congress of the

Senior Staff Association of the GTB at Akyawkrom, near Ejisu, in Ashanti Region at

the weekend.
The Congress attended by over 60 delegates selected from all over the country,

was under theme “Quality Human Resource the Means Towards an Accelerated

Tourism Development”.
He said with the current global challenges and changing trend in the tourism

industry, demands continuous training for the staff as an essential panacea for

sustainable growth of the industry.
Mr Sampson urged the government to up-grade the skills of personnel in the

private sector such as hotels, catering, travel and tours, operations to help improve

their knowledge in areas including tourism policy, development, planning, marketing

and others.
He expressed regret that the GTB had for the past eight years operated without

Board of Directors and called on government as a matter of urgency to establish the

Board of Directors to oversee operations.
The President also appealed to the government to revisit the proposed Tourism

Development Fund without delay and provide funding for the speedy development of

the tourism industry
Mr Solomon Asiedu, Co-ordinating Director of the Ejisu Municipal Assembly, said

the Yaa Asantewaa Museum at Ejisu in Ashanti Region which was once a popular

tourist centre was now in deplorable conditions as a result of fire which gutted the

centre a few years ago.
He therefore appealed to the Board to assist the Ejisu Municipal Assembly to

rehabilitate the Centre to increase tourists to the area.

The Co-ordinating Director also urged GTB to help develop the Bonwire Kente

Industry and the Butterfly Sanctuary at the Bobri Forest so as to entice more tourists

to improve the incomes of the Assembly.
Mr Charles Osei Bonsu, Deputy Executive Director of the GTB in-charge

of Finance and Administration, asked the delegates to use the occasion to take stock

of their activities and adopt effective and pragmatic measures to improve on their

performances.
GNA