Hohoe, Oct. 22. GNA - Mr Kwame Gyasi, Volta Regional Manager of the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB), on Thursday, called for a conscious public-private interface in the development and expansion of tourism investment portfolios.

He said this partnership would induce cutting-edge approaches into the industry where the opportunities were harnessed to advantage. Mr Gyasi, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Hohoe, barely a month after assumption of duty, said GTB would continue to act as pathfinders towards developing undiscovered opportunities and raise standards of existing tourism infrastructure to meet international standards.

He entreated stakeholders, including the Ministry of tourism, GTB, traditional authorities, communities, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to step up collaboration, to derive the benefits. Mr Gyasi described the Volta region as being in a strategic and geographic positioning, from the coast to the forest and savanna areas, as well as having a good climate, rolling mountains, diverse cultures and traditions, hospitality and a variety of cuisines, which are unique to the region.

He said investment and harnessing of these opportunities was an incentive enough to turn the economy of the region around, and urged investors to explore these avenues, which are still in its undeveloped stage.

The Regional Manager said bad roads and undeveloped infrastructure militated against the sector in the region. Mr Gyasi observed that domestic tourism contributed a colossal revenue haul to the sector, about ten folds more than receipts from foreign visitors.

He advocated that this paradigm shift could be explored fully when the stakes were raised and repackaged to lure a lot more Ghanaians to patronise tourism products and attractions. Mr Gyasi said tourism is anchored on environmental sanitation and therefore urged major stakeholders to prioritise activities of the environment to make the sector a sell-out.