Accra, Aug. 15, GNA - Mr Joseph Baidoe-Ansah, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, on Tuesday reminded tourism practitioners that the only way to enrich visitors' experience and beckon repeated visits to the country was by sharpening their marketing skills.

He noted that improving on the packaging and marketing of Ghana's rich and diverse tourism products would also ensure the promotion and expansion of international, regional and domestic tourism and place the country as the preferred tourist destination in Africa. Mr Baidoe-Ansah was speaking at the opening of a two-day workshop on marketing training designed for private sector tourism practitioners and key players in the industry.

The workshop, which brought together about 32 participants including hotel operators, travel and tour operators, staff of Ghana Tourists Board and staff of Ghana Tourism Development Company, is in line with efforts by the Ministry to have a marketing policy. The Deputy Minister said: "We need not remind ourselves that our collective efforts in realizing this goal would be translated in bringing much foreign exchange, job creation and income generation for our individual enterprises and communities, thus contributing effectively to wealth creation and poverty reduction." He said the marketing training programme was crucial since it provided a forum for practitioners to share and exchange ideas and to gain fresh knowledge on modern marketing techniques and requisite tools necessary to maximize expected results. Mr Baidoe-Ansah mentioned Ghana's location and its proximity to major tourist generating countries as competitive advantage tour operators had and urged the participants to attach importance to the training programmes.

Mrs Bridget Katsriku, Chief Director of the Ministry, reiterated the need for participants to be serious about the training programme and put whatever they learnt into practice. Dr DeBerry Spence, Resource person, took participants through topics like: "Strategic Planning and the Marketing process=94; =93Competitive Analysis and Strategies=94 and 93Marketing Research=94. Dr Spence said her passion and interest in Ghana tourism had facilitated her research into the sector and noted that there was a need to share her findings with people in the industry.