Accra, May 1, GNA - Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama on Monday opened the 31st annual congress of the Africa Travel Association (ATA) which has brought together major players in the tourism sector to discuss open sky policy, among other business issues.

The open sky policy would facilitate the exploration of the tourism potentials of Africa without travelling restrictions.

The five-day congress would also discuss culture and eco-tourism with a trade show to showcase the tourism potential of participating countries as sidelight.

Vice President Mahama said media portrayal of Africa as a Continent beset by low economic growth; low food production; civil strive; degrading environments; weak institutions, high population growth and a mountain of debts were obstacles to Africa's development.

"Furthermore, Africa is described as a long haul and high cost destination, which places the Continent in a weak position to compete favourably with other tourism destinations."

Vice President Mahama said weak air links among African countries made domestic, regional and international travels very cumbersome. He said the Continent's natural, cultural and historical resources had to be developed and promoted to create wealth for the people. "The challenge for us, therefore, is to rescue the Continent from the claws of internal destruction and to launch it on a path of sustainable development," he said.

Vice President Mahama said the Continent had been over-dependent on few traditional commodities for foreign exchange and grants from the donor community to fund investment growth.

He called on the ATA to play a prominent role in implementing programmes that would project the positive side of Africa and to market the Continent as a major tourist destination. Vice President Mahama said the United Nations World Tourism Organisation assessment indicated that tourism continued to exhibit a positive global growth.

"For example, the year 2005 witnessed a 5.5 per cent growth in tourism as a result if increasing international arrivals, receipts and employment as overall contribution to the Gross Domestic Product of tourism destinations".

He said Ghana had captured tourism sector as a priority under the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, urged the delegates to help to combat negative perception about Africa since there was a lot of good news to be told about the Continent.

He said: "Ghana offers diverse attractions: ecological, historical, cultural and recreational. It is a country of unity with cultural diversity, good governance and political diversity, endowed with many resources."

The Minister said Africa would do better by competing together than competing against each other and urged the delegates to help to attract more Foreign Direct Investment to the Sector.

"We want to build bridges with you. We are desirous of promoting and strengthening partnership with all of you."

Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey asked the delegates to encourage their various governments to allocate more budgets to the development of tourism, saying: "Perhaps, at future meetings of the Association, we also have to invite Ministers of Finance to attend to facilitate the development of our local economies at large and the communities in particular." Mr Kabinga Pance, President of ATA, called on African governments to strive to get a large market share from international tourists. He mentioned human skills and finance as major challenges facing the tourism industry in Africa and said ATA had a global focus in creating linkages among tourism industries in Africa and the United States. "ATA continues to play a vital role in the development of tourism on the African Continent," Mr Pance, who is also the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism of the Republic of Zambia, noted. Dr Gyenell Henderson-Bailey, First Vice President of ATA, described the event as a homecoming and said from the perspective of the African heritage it was a real homecoming.

"We need to re-connect with our cultural heritage and bring more tourists to Ghana and Africa as a whole," she said. Over 14 African countries are attending the five-day congress of the US-based ATA.

The ATA, an educational international travel industry association for Africa, was established in 1957 to promote tourism in Africa and has membership from African governments' tourism organizations, international airlines, hotels and tour operators.

It also holds annual congresses and trade shows at selected African destinations and the US to provide first-hand information to enable members to share personal experience.