The Ghana News Agency (GNA) for the second time has been adjudged Tourism Oriented Media-Online organization at the Northern Regional Tourism Awards 2019.

In addition to the institutional award, Ms Comfort Sena Fetrie, a Senior Reporter at the Northern Regional Office of the GNA was also adjudged the Tourism Writer of the Year 2019 for her outstanding efforts in reporting and projecting tourism and the hospitality industry in the region.

The ceremony was organized by the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA).

The Agency received a similar award in 2018, in recognition of accurate reporting and promotion of tourism and tourism-related issues in the Northern Region.

The event, held in Tamale was on the theme: "Growing Tourism Beyond the Return".

It was to recognize and reward tourism players and operators in the region for their efforts in promoting the tourism sector.

Besides the GNA, the Business and Financial Times (BFT) and Bishara Radio have adjudged Tourism Oriented Media of the year for 2019 for Print and Radio categories respectively while the Northern Television (NTV) was adjudged Tourism Oriented Media of the year 2019 for the Television category.

A number of tourism and hospitality actors and operators in the region were also honoured, including hotels and guest houses, entertainment and movies, national parks, restaurants, tourism clubs, individuals among others,
Regal Hotel, was adjudged two-star hotel of the year 2019, while Radach Lodge and Conference Centre was adjudged the Tourism Friendly Event Centre of the year 2019 among others.

In the entertainment and movie category, Mr Sherif Abdul Majeed, known by his stage name as Maccasio was also adjudged the Tourism Friendly Artist of the year 2019 and Mr Loya Gba-anli, a local movie actor (Dagbani) was adjudged Tourism Friendly Actor of the year 2019.

Mr Akwasi Agyeman, the Chief Executive Officer of the GTA in a speech read on his behalf said the theme of the event had come at the rights time when the tourism industry players must grow beyond their boundaries by improving on their standards and quality service delivery to attract more tourists and generate more revenue.

He acknowledged the GTA's successful contribution to the just ended "Year of Return" and its gains and indicated that the authority's creation of the "Beyond the Return" focusing on the year 2020 and beyond in order to sustain the momentum of the gains achieved in 2019.

He said the authority was, however, confronted with challenges of illegal operators and urged prospective operators to regularize their operations by getting in touch with the regional offices of the GTA.

Alhaji Hakeem Ismael, Northern Regional Manager of GTA said last year the tourism sector in the region made some improvement and added that about 40 new tourism and hospitality avenues including 14 hotels and guest houses, 14 hostels, 14 travel agencies, and numerous drinking bars and chop bars among others were discovered.

He explained that according to the Tourism calendar, next month (March) would be a month of "Wear Ghana" and urged members of the public to ensure that they wear the Northern smocks on every Friday to mark the event.

Alhaji Ismael, said issues such as street begging and the establishment of facilities such as brothels in the regions affected tourist attractions and the GTA frowned on such activities.

He called on residents to work assiduously for peace, unity and development in order to make tourism very attractive in the region.

Mr Salifu Saeed, the Northern Regional Minister in a speech read on his behalf said the region was a center of culture and tourism and challenged the award winners and members of the public to do more to help improve on both sectors.