Exporting Ghana Through Tourism: The Narrative Of Touch Effect Global

Travel & Tourism industry is an important economic activity in most countries around the world. As well as its direct economic impact, the industry has significant indirect and induced impacts. It is one of the world’s largest economic sectors that creates jobs, drives exports, and generates prosperity across the world.

The musing narrative has always been how Ghana can make good use of their tourist attractions to create jobs, drives growth and exports, and how well we have performed with the existing Travel and tourism systems.

For me, more importantly, looking at this sector , i tend to ask how many young entrepreneurs can be found here and the kind of support the country has been giving them. In this forward discussion, I will conclude with an interview with one of the most passionate entrepreneur who has dedicated his resources to export Ghana to the world through his eco-travel adventure firm, Touch Effects Global.

In the annual analysis by the WorldTravel & Tourism Council (WTTC) of the global economic impact of Travel & Tourism, the sector is shown to account for 10.4% of global GDP and 313 million jobs, or 9.9% of total employment, in 2017.

Travel & Tourism, which already supports one in every ten jobs on the planet, is a dynamic engine of employment opportunity. Over the past ten years, one in five of all jobs created across the world has been in the sector and, with the right regulatory conditions and government support, nearly 100 million new jobs could be created over the decade ahead.

Defining The Economic Contribution of Travel & Tourism

WTTC recognises that Travel & Tourism's total contribution is much greater, and aims to capture its indirect and induced impacts through its annual research and hence the Total contribution impact will be our focus of discussion.

The total contribution of Travel & Tourism includes its ‘wider impacts’ (ie the indirect and induced impacts) on the economy.

The ‘indirect’ contribution includes the GDP and jobs supported by:

Travel & Tourism investment spending –an important aspect of both current and future activity that includes investment activity such as the purchase of new aircraft and construction of new hotels.

Government 'collective' spending, which helps Travel & Tourism activity in many different ways as it is made on behalf of the ‘community at large’ –eg tourism marketing and promotion, aviation, administration, security services, resort area security services, resort area sanitation services, etc;

Domestic purchases of goods and services by the sectors dealing directly with tourists –including, for example, purchases of food and cleaning services by hotels, of fuel and catering services by airlines, and IT services by travel agents.

The Ghana Story
Below are the facts behind the Ghana Narrative of Travel & Tour and how we can leverage on that to create jobs and attracts more investments for economic gain for the country.

Country Ranking
Absolute Contribution to GDP, 2017
Ghana comes 98th Position below Egypt, South Africa , Morocco , Tunisia and Tanzania.

GDP –Direct Contribution
The direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP was GHC5,862.9mn (USD1,335.5mn), 2.9% of total GDP in 2017 and is forecast to rise by 4.2% pa, from 2018-2028, to GHC9,294.0mn (USD2,117.1mn), 2.6% of total GDP in 2028.

GDP- Total Contribution
The total contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP was GHC12,573.3mn (USD2,864.1mn), 6.2% of GDP in 2017, and is forecast to rise by 4.2% pa to GHC19,852.8mn (USD4,522.3mn), 5.7% of GDP in 2028.

Employment –Direct Contribution
In 2017 Travel & Tourism directly supported 307,500 jobs (2.4% of total employment). This is expected to rise by 1.5% in 2018 and rise by 1.6% pa to 366,000 jobs (2.2% of total employment) in 2028.

Employment –Direct Contribution
In 2017, the total contribution of Travel & Tourism to employment, including jobs indirectly supported by the industry was 5.3% of total employment (682,000 jobs). This is expected to rise by 1.4% in 2018 to 692,000 jobs and rise by 1.6% pa to 807,000 jobs in 2028 (4.8% of total).

Visitors Export
Visitor exports generated GHC4,080.3mn (USD929.5mn), 4.9% of total exports in 2017.

This is forecast to grow by 1.6% in 2018, and grow by 2.5% pa, from 2018-2028, to GHC5,309.2mn (USD1,209.4mn) in 2028, 3.9% of total.

Investment
This isTravel & Tourism investment in 2017 was GHC733.9mn, 2.9% of total investment (USD167.2mn). It should rise by 4.1% in 2018, and rise by 3.0% pa over the next ten years to GHC1,024.1mn (USD233.3mn) in 2028, 2.3% of total.

Meet The CEO , Touch Effect Global
Touch effect Limited is an exclusive and holistic company offering eco-travel adventure, multimedia, talent management and business/Project facilitation Services ( https://toucheffectsglobal.org/ )

Delali Kotoka (The Captain ) is the man behind the relentless passion of Touch Effect.In his final year, when Mr. Delali Kotoka like many final year students, started developing his exit plan. His zeal towork in the tourism and hospitality industry grew when he discoveredthat working in the industry rather looked blurry than what he perceived. He has identified some problems in the industry and seeks to contribute to the solutions. The CEO seeks to use Touch Effect to educate and build capacity which he identifies as one of the greatest shortfalls in the sector. His plan is to build an eco-adventure world different from the usual site seeing that is known in Ghana. As an entrepreneur, his topmost challenge is getting to build his portfolio and brand. This is one of the areas he has been working with his team to improve on.

By Justice Offei Jr.
(Edited By Ama Akorfa)
[email protected]