Bolgatanga, May 11, GNA - The Upper East Regional Manager of the Ghana Tourist Board, Ms Mary Agangmikire, on Thursday called on District Assemblies in the region to pay more attention to tourism sector to generate employment opportunities and wealth. She made the call during this year's Upper East Regional Tourism Awards Night held in Bolgatanga.

Ms Agangmikire stressed that in some countries tourism had been used to reduce poverty and that District Assemblies in the Region seemed not to realise that they could use it as "a poverty reduction tool for their communities".

She appealed to the Assemblies to collaborate with the Board to harness the tourism potential in the region, which is poverty endemic. Ms Agangmikire urged those in the hospitality industry to improve and upgrade their facilities to enable them to attract more tourists and asked people living around tourist sites to always keep the environment clean.

Some of the award winners were Tiatar and Azubong restaurants, High Taste and Top Chop bars as well as Sinant-Manant Hotel. They received certificates, plagues, and cartons of beer.

In his keynote address, the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Boniface Gambila, challenged the Tourism Board in the region to work assiduously to meet the standard of hosting tourists in the Golden Jubilee of Ghana's Independence next year and the Cup of African Nations (CAN 2008) scheduled to take place in Ghana in 2008.