The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba has charged Ghanaians to appreciate and make use of what they have, particularly in the tourism sector in order to attract others from the outside world.

According to the Minister, Ghana’s tourism sector would receive a boost once citizens market the wonderful tourist sites in the country.

“For others to appreciate what Ghana has to offer on the tourism menu, we ourselves as Ghanaians should first appreciate what we have. We must first lead the way into people’s hearts to enable them appreciate what we have,” she said in a speech read on her behalf by Dr Comfort Asare, Director of Gender at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection at the Women in Tourism Summit in Accra.

The first ever Women in Tourism Summit, according to the Gender Minister is a laudable initiative as it has the goal of restructuring Ghana’s tourism and reorienting citizens on “a new sense of national pride and a way of life”.

She said, Ghana has a promising tourism sector with huge potentials and an “exciting mix of products such as culture, ecotourism, heritage, beach and conference tourism and the people well acclaimed as warm and friendly”.

She touted tourism as one of the sectors that contributes greatly to development of countries through foreign exchange earnings, creation of employment and reduction of poverty.



The Gender Minister, however bemoaned the challenges in the industry owing to gender inequality and “the huge wealth and skills gap between men and women”.

She, therefore, urged organisers of the Women in Tourism Summit to use the platform to empower women and promote equality in tourism to ensure both men and women are equally represented in the industry.

“The Women in Tourism Summit, therefore, must explore a series of impactful agendas that will bring together women to discuss issues pertaining to the role of women in tourism and also stimulate the setting of a new course of action to aid in the increase of women’s involvement in tourism,” the Minister recommended.