The Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) is taking steps to change Ghana's image as an expensive tourism destination, Mr Martin Mireku, acting Chief Executive of the Board said on Thursday.

Reacting to complaints from operators in the tourism industry at a meeting at Hotel Marjorie "Y", in Tema that high airfares charged by airlines and an airport tax of 50 dollars scared tourist from travelling to Ghana, Mr Mireku said the GTB had realised that certain agencies by their actions made Ghana more expensive for tourists.

Over 70 operators of hotels, restaurants, night clubs and travel and tour companies attended the meeting which was aimed at introducing newly appointed officials of the Tourist Board to them and the need for them to undertake training programmes to prevent food poisoning.

The GTB has, therefore, targeted organisations like the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), which introduced the 50-dollar airport tax as a source of revenue to rehabilitate the Accra Airport and Ghana Airways to introduce more competitive fares.

The hoteliers also complained about the decision by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to increase its licensing fees for five star hotels from nine million cedis to 20 million cedis a year without any negotiation as it used to be in the past.

They were also concerned about the introduction of a new travel insurance fee of "10 dollars in and 10 dollars out" by airlines after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States and questioned its justification.

Another issue was why hoteliers, who collected VAT on behalf of the VAT Service without being paid any commission should be made to buy the VAT receipt books.

"Some of these agencies have genuine reasons for charging certain fees but we have to sit down with them to see how we can collaborate in the interest of all parties", he said.

Mr Edwin Owusu-Mensah, GTB's Acting Deputy Executive Director for Operations, said the Board was trying to review the tourism law L.I. 1205 of 1979 since it was outdated.

The Board was also reviewing all its publications like brochures to be sent to embassies abroad to market Ghana as a favourable tourism destination, adding, in countries where Ghana had no diplomatic missions; it was getting people to represent Ghana's interest in such places.

Mr Owusu-Mensah noted that food poisoning could dent Ghana's image as tourism destination so it was collaborating with the African Project Development Facility of the UNDP to train all operators.

The AFDP would bear half of the cost of the training programmes that would target waiters and proprietors to improve food and beverage service delivery.

Beneficiaries of the training, which would be organised by SGS Ghana Limited, would be presented with certificates issued by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, a renowned international organisation.