The Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF) is the umbrella body of all the private tourism and hospitality associations such as Ghana Hotels Association, Tourism Society of Ghana, Car Rentals, Tour Guides Association, Tour Operators Union of Ghana, Ghana Progressive Union of Ghana, Women in Business and Tourism and several other associations which have been working tirelessly to improve on service quality of the industry to ensure growth and development.

The federation has observed with keen interest the deplorable nature of some of our tourism infrastructure spread across the country. Based on this, the federation embarked on a series of stakeholder engagements to understand the dynamics of the situation.

With sponsorship from the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund and its Development Partners DANIDA and USAID, several engagements were carried out across the country. The federation by this PRESS RELEASE would like to draw government’s attention to some key challenges confronting the sector particularly:

I. State of physical and soft infrastructure of the sector
II. Inadequate investment in the tourism sector
III. Ghana as a high cost destination
IV. Poor tourism support services at our sites
V. Lack of professionalism and service quality
Based on the above critical issues the federation is calling on the government and all stakeholders to ensure tourism is well developed to contribute significantly to the growth of the industry and contribute to the economy.

Signed
Bella Ayayee Ahu
President (GHATOF)