Nana Oduro Kwarteng, Chief Director, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, has appealed to chop bar operators to put up descent washrooms for their customers.

He said this on Wednesday during the launch of the maiden National Tourism and Hospitality Career Fair and Exhibition (NATHAFEST 2014) in Accra which was under the theme “Reversing Unemployment through Careers in Hospitality and Tourism”.

NATHAFEST is a programme engineered by the Ministry to bring together stakeholders in the hospitality industry to deliberate on how to improve on the tourism sector.

The maiden edition which is a two- day event would include exhibition, interviews, seminars and career counseling.

Nana Oduro Kwarteng said a lot of foreigners and even Ghanaians were not ready to patronize chop bars because they were deemed to have insanitary conditions.

He said the Ministry had launched a programme aimed at promoting local tourism which would enable Ghanaians to travel often to tourist sites in the country.

He appealed to parents and teachers to organize visits to tourist sites for their children when they are on vacation.

Mr Goyimwole Kpodo, Chairman, NATHAFEST Planning Committee, said the hospitality industry was a very large one which could give employment to any youth interested in it.

He said the hospitality industry was the only industry which unite the human race through travel and tours and had no barriers be it political, racial, tribal, national or international.

He called on the youth who are unemployed to get trained in the hospitality industry for meaningful employment in the sector or set up their own enterprises.

He said NATHAFEST 2014 was tailored to attract a cross section of second cycle and tertiary institutions to expose them to career counselling, hospitality training and potential placement in the hospitality industry.

He said NATHAFEST would be organize annually to invigorate the tourism and hospitality sector with the sole aim of making the sector a number one employer and number one income earner in the country.