Cape Coast, Dec. 20, GNA - Stakeholders in the tourism industry met on Wednesday to evaluate the just ended PANAFEST/Emancipation and Joseph Project celebrations and agreed, among other things that, the activities needed more publicity and promotion to achieve the desired impact.

The stakeholders made up of government officials from the Ghana Tourists Board and the sector Ministry as well as private tour operators including owners of hotels and restaurants, owners of car rental organization, chop bar operators and night club operators made the evaluation based on a survey by the Ghana Tourists Board to know how tourists saw the events. The participants also pointed out that the programmes for PANAFEST/Emancipation and the Joseph Project needed to be re-packaged to make it "more attractive not only to foreigners but to Ghanaians and our African neighbours." Nana Twum, Head of Research, Statistics and Information Department at the Ghana Tourists Board, presenting the result of a survey conducted in Cape Coast, Elmina and Assin Manso by his department on the PANAFEST/Emancipation and Joseph Project celebrations said about 236 tourists were interviewed out of which about 87 per cent participated in the celebration for the first time.

The survey focused on the total visitor experience, which touched on marketing of the events, its organization, visitor characteristics, impressions and recommendations in addition to visitors' comments. Nana Twum said out of 236 non-resident visitors 63.1 percent had the desire to spend less than 14 nights, 27.1 intended staying 14 nights or more and 9.3 percent intended to stay less than seven nights.

He said the events were promoted mainly by word of mouth since about 30 percent of visitors said they learnt of the events first from friends or relatives Nana Twum mentioned the lack of good sanitary conditions, poor time management, regimental nature of the programmes, lack of local community participation and poor customer service as areas where visitors complained about most. Mr. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Diasporean Relations noted that importance of Public-Private partnership in the tourism sector and said the industry could not be driven by government alone neither could the private sector alone handle it. He called on tour operators to make efforts to satisfy tourists that came to the country even as the country prepared for Ghana 2008 football tournament and said the success of the CAN 2008 depended largely on the tourism sector.

The Deputy Minister pledged government's commitment to the development of tourism in the country Osabarima Kwesi Atta, Omahene of Oguaa Traditional Area, who chaired the forum, lauded the Ghana Tourists Board and the Ministry for the survey and urged operators to learn from past mistakes and improve to attain the highest practices. Mrs. Bridget Katsriku advised operators in the industry to do the right thing because doing things anyhow was not good for the growth of tourism industry 20 Dec. 07