Kumasi, Oct 26, GNA - The Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) has entreated proprietors of tourist facilities in the country to ensure that majority of their employees are trained to run their businesses. Mr Ekow Sampson, Chief Architect and Acting Ashanti Regional Manager of the GTB, said the practice where industry operators hired relatives without any basic knowledge about the profession was not only harming the development of the sector but also tarnishing the nation's image.

He was speaking at the Second Graduation Ceremony of the McKeown Hospitality Institute at Oduom, near the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi on Friday. A total of 180 students graduated and received Diploma certificates after a two-year course in Travel and Tourism, Marketing, Hotel Management, Food and Beverages.

He said the number of international tourists who visited Ghana in 2005 stood at 428,533 while the figure increased to 497,129 in 2006, adding that research in 2006 indicated that tourists spent 32 percent of their monies on accommodation and 17 percent on entertainment and recreation.

Tourists also spend 15 per cent of their monies on tourist's expenditure, 10 percent on shipping and nine percent on transportation. Mr Sampson admonished managers of tourist facilities to adhere to GTB regulations in the forthcoming African Cup of Nations (CAN) tournament to be hosted by Ghana to ensure that the nation retained its image.

Mr Osei Assibey-Antwi, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, said government was committed to developing the tourism industry to enable it contribute substantially to the Gross Domestic Product. Consequently, it has resolved to collaborate with the GTB to rid the nation of sub-standard tourist facilities, he added.