Sogakope (V/R), July 7, GNA - Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah, the Minister of Tourism, has lauded the private sector for adding health related investment to the country's repertoire of tourism attractions. He said spas and health facilities are becoming important exponents of leisure and medical tourism through which the tourist is guaranteed a high sense of health.

She was speaking at the 25 anniversary celebration of Villa Ciseneros and Spas, an 80-room three-star hotel at Sogakope at the weekend. She said this had offered new opportunities to health insurance companies and agents are looking at medical tourism as an effective solution to health care problems. Spas, Mrs. Azumah-Mensah said, are not only for people with health problems but for all who seek peace, quiet and rest and are therefore becoming one of the fastest growing areas in the tourism sector in the country.

She commended Dr. Bernard Kwasi Glover, owner of the hotel and his wife for growing the facility from a humble beginning "through sheer determination bracing the odds the past 25 years making them worth emulating". Mrs. Azumah-Mensah expressed her ministry's preparedness to support facilities such as Villa Ciseneros to promote the industry to levels comparable to any in the world so that it could contribute its quota to national growth.

Dr. Glover, a member of the Council of State and an old of student of Keta Secondary School, was awarded by past students of the school with a plaque and kente cloth for his contribution to national development and as a pioneer in the tourism industry in the Volta Region. Some members of Council of State and Parliament, chiefs and other dignitaries witnessed the celebration.

Dr. Glover said the facility employs 50 permanent people and 45 casuals and is also a major stakeholder in the local economy by being the main purchaser of supplies and services of local farmers, fishermen, ceramic producers and transporters.

The hotel, which runs a scholarship scheme for some students in Sogakope Senior High School, also pays the school fees of 10 nursery kids.

It has also taken up the responsibility to renew national health insurance premiums for 10 poor families and is about to adopt 10 additional nursery kids whose fees and uniforms would be borne by the hotel for five years. 07 July, 09