The tourism equation - who will solve it for us?

Ghana boasts of most of the finest tourist attractions in the sub-region namely the Boti falls, Aburi gardens, Volta lake, Lake Bosumtwi, Akosombo dam to mention but a few but it is just unfortunate that, our motherland isn't among the countries in Africa that are advertised in travel shops out here in the UK and this is really getting to a lot of us. Gambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya together with several other countries are household names due to the high advertising of their tourist sites and believe it or not, these contries are generating a lot of revenue from their tourist industry.

One out of every 20 people in the UK believe that there are world class hotels in Ghana and only few believe that there are restaurants and western style shops out there yet we claim to be the gateway to Africa. Where is Ghana is what most people ask whenever the name is mentioned. We have so many beaches so why don't we just develop them and advertise our country to enable an influx of tourists as this can alleviate our economic problems a bit. Beaches like the Scheviningen beach in Den Hagg, Netherlands are just famous because of the numerous developments at the beach and wow! what a beautiful place to be during the summer. It is time our leaders refrain from illusions and insist on work and not on words as time is running out as the day passes by.

The lake Bosomtwi can be developed and first class roads linked to it and this can be a very viabe site not forgetting the biggest tree in West Africa which is situated at Oda in the central region of our motherland. The game reserve in the nothern part of the country and several sites out there have been abandoned and nobody cares to go there at all. Tourism is one of the most lucrative sectors in the world today and that is why a country like Spain has done so much to develop the beaches in Ibiza, Mallorca and Malaga and several other islands and this draws so many holidays to the country every year. Real Madrid is even bringing in tourists due to the high publicity it has been given by the spanish media and why can't our media do the same thing for the good of our poor motherland?

The Busua beach resort can be compared to the beach resorts in Tenerife and what have you but how come most people out here have never heard of it? We can only draw investors into the economy if we explore our tourism to the fullest. People might even decide to vacate their home countries and acquire homes in Ghana so as to help the estate developers provided our tourist sites are made to meet international standards. A lot of English people are buying homes in the Carribean and Kenya not forgetting Spain just because of their tourist sites and their nice beaches so why can't we do the same thing? Investors don't only set up businesses but invest in property but we will have to attract them.

Today, cuban drinks are patronised all over the world just because someone visited Havana and brought the good news about their drinks back to their home country and our Kasapreko's and all the other drinks can gain international recognition if only we attract tourists into our wonderful tourist sites which have been abandoned for so long a time. Our leaders should please help us advertise our tourist sites and help develop them so as to enable us talk to our friends here about them as they are money making machines which are been put to rest for no apparent reasons. A word to the wise is enough