Tourism And Hospitality Industry Needs More Attention - Global Media Foundation

The Founder/CEO of Global Media Foundation, human rights media advocacy organisation, Raphael Godlove Ahenu, has observed that the hospitality and tourism industry has the potential to drive socio-economic advancement of the country if government pays much attention to the sector.

According to him, the neglect of the hospitality and tourism sector over the years by government causes the nation millions of dollars annually.

To be able to achieve the goal of making the sector the number one foreign exchange earner, he said there is the need for the government to increase its support for the sector.

The government Mr. Ahenu pointed out must also develop clear strategies on how tourism activities can contribute to poverty reduction and the linkages between tourism and other sectors of the local economy.

The CEO was addressing Special Aged Luncheon organized by the Citizens Kitchen of the Department of the Hospitality and Tourism of Sunyani Technical University in collaboration with Global Media Foundation.

The program is organized annually to create a platform for the HND final year students in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism to display their creativity and skills to the general public.

It forms part of the fulfilment of the award of HND certificate.

The CEO said it was incumbent on government to attach maximum attention to the industry to create, which has the potential of creating thousands of jobs for the teeming unemployed youth while at the same time, increasing revenue of local assemblies and the central government.

He called for pragmatic measures by government and all stakeholders in the hospitality and the tourism industry to streamline the sector by removing all the bottlenecks that impede the development of the sector and also to make the sector more attractive to both local and foreign investors.

He was of the opinion that the Tourism and the Hospitality industry has the potential and the capacity to absorb a lot of the graduates from the various tertiary institutions in the country and offer them a decent work which could sustain them and their families.

The Head of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism of the STU, Noble Amoako Sarkodie said the purpose of the event was to offer the final year students the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learnt in the three-year classroom work for them to be assessed by their lecturers in the areas of food production, accommodation, food and beverage service.

He stressed the need to bridge the gap between academia and industry and therefore called effective collaboration between the University and the industry xo that together they can enhance the prospects of the sector.