Figures related to international tourism to Ghana showed a 69 percent decline in 2020, the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has revealed.

The authority explains the shortfall can been attributed to the adverse impact of the Coronavirus pandemic amid travel restrictions and lockdowns.

Nelson Jones, the Acting Director of Public Affairs at the GTA in an interaction with Citi Business News noted this has hugely impacted on the revenue and viability of the tourism sector.

“The numbers reduced from 1.1 million to 355,108, so there has been a loss of 69 percent. This has affected the sector badly because when people travel in, the hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions will benefit,”

“But now things aren’t moving on and the issue is because of the increase in the COVID-19 numbers. Some of these hospitality enterprises had to close down, and it has affected the industry a lot worldwide and not just Ghana,” Jones lamented.

Ghana in 2019 received 1.1 million international tourists due to the ‘Year of Return’ initiative and its associated activities.

The year-long campaign was intended to place Ghana as a key travel destination and tourism hub for African Americans, African Diaspora and some Europeans.

The Akufo-Addo government's initiative organised events throughout 2019 with the motive to position Ghana as the prime tourist destination in the West Africa sub-region in a bid to shore up more tourism revenue and extend trade barriers.