A twenty-year-old student of arts, Miss Catherine Ackam has won the maiden Miss Tourism Ghana UK competition that was held on Saturday 17th November 2012 in Luton in the United Kingdom.

Catherine, who represented the Western region, held the crowd spellbound with a rendition of the popular Bob Marley song as she choreographed the ordeal that our forefathers went through in the various castles that are spotted along our shores and in the Western region.

The competition saw ten very young and ambitious Ghanaian ladies each representing one of the ten regions of Ghana. They thrilled the capacity crowd at the Dunstable conference centre in Luton with well rehearsed cultural dances, deep knowledge of the various touristic attractions of their selected regions and a display of a specific talent that they posses.

Miss Ackam, a late entrant to the competition after one of the contestants pulled out was shell shocked as her name was called as the winner and long after the crowning she could not come round still to believe that she had achieved her dream of winning the competition.

‘’I still cant believe it … I nearly pulled out of the competition during the final dress rehearsals but I was urged on to go on as it would have affected my confidence badly. I thank God I did not,’’ Miss Ackam said.

She attributed her desire to stay on to her friends and family and other contestants. ‘’I am so happy beyond measure and I will give off my best to be a very good tourism Ambassador for Ghana’, Miss Ackam added.

The event was spiced with attractive cultural displays by the Blema Cultural troupe based in London and a live band performance by the Davison band, a Ghanaian band also based in London.

The official sound track for the pageant was composed by up and coming music star, NINO who via video link spiced up the show with a rendition of the Ghanaian patriotic song ‘ma w’ani ngye se wo fri Ghana’.

Maria Lovell, the Chief Executive officer of the Miss Tourism Ghana UK organisation was full of praise for all the contestants for their spirit of togetherness and determination and their desire to be worthy ambassadors for Ghana.

She called for support from the Ghanaian business community in the UK to support their effort in attracting tourists to Ghana. She commended the Miss Tourism Ghana organisation, the Ministry of Tourism, Ghana Tourism Authority, Ghana Tourism Federation, the Ghana High Commission to the UK and Ireland, Ghana Society in Luton and the UK centre for Carnival Arts for supporting and pushing for such an event in the UK.

The Miss Tourism Ghana UK event seeks to inculcate in the Ghanaian woman in the United Kingdom the sense of being proud of our heritage and also to attract the UK tourist to Ghana.

The competition attracted patrons from various all over the UK and from different nations.

The dignitaries included the representative of the Ghana High Commission, Mayor of Luton, Members of Parliament for Luton North and South, the CEO of the Miss Tourism Ghana and Ghanaian traditional rulers in the UK.