Stakeholders in the country’s tourism sector have been charged to develop innovative ways by which economic potentials of the various traditional festivals in the country can be tapped to open up Ghana’s tourism industry.

This will help to rebrand the country’s tourism sector both within and without, and make it more vibrant to contribute to the fullest the manifold economic benefits the tourism sector holds, which have been overlooked for a long time now. Managing Consultant of Lindiwe Corporate Services, Ms. Rosaline Nutsugah, expressed this concern in an interaction with a group of journalists during the official preparations towards the celebration of this year’s Ngmayem Festival of the people of Krobo Odumase in the Eastern Region.

“Tourism entails a lot and cultural festivals serve as a serious key to unlock the tourism potentials of Ghana to the rest of the world, making a centre of attraction,” she said, adding that “the time has come for festivals to be promoted as a commodity for exchange, and not just annual rituals.” The European Commission and its Member-States under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement have a strong mandate to support culture in African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (ACP), of which Ghana is a beneficiary.

This includes the mainstreaming of culture in development activities, support to cultural industries, as well as achieving an improved access to European markets of ACP cultural goods and services among others. This, she said, has led to the merging of the International Beads Festival and the Ngmayem Festival of the people of Kroboland to open up the beads industry of the local people to investors, as well as other cultural industries of the country, to gain access to the European market. Regional celebrations are due to be held nationwide, with a national event at Tafi-Atome Monkey Sanctuary in the Volta Region, to commemorate this year’s United Nations World Tourism Day which falls on September 27th every year.

Ms. Nutsugah added that tourism plays a significant role in the economy of any nation, but that “cultural tourism - no matter how rich it is - does not complete its chain if it does not leave money behind in the locality it is held.” This, she said, has led to the reorganisation of the two festivals into what is known as the “Krobofest”, aimed at exposing the untapped tourist potentials of the area as well as linking both local and foreign investors to the much sought-after beads and other local products of the area for the European market.