The World Bank has made available a 4million dollar scheme to improve tourist sites in the country due to the impact of the Covid-19.
This is according to the Volta Regional Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority Alexander Nketia.
Alexander Nketia said the various tourist sites in the country are faced with infrastructure challenges.
This he believes is affecting the tourist experience at the various sites in the country.
“Generally speaking tourist sites in Ghana have challenges in terms of infrastructure and other facilities to enhance the experience of tourists that is the major challenge. As a result of that, the Ministry of Tourism with the help of the Authority is putting measures in place to improve these sites and their capacity.”
Alexander Nketia added that they have encouraged and helped all the tourist sites to apply for the scheme to help aid their infrastructure development.
“There is this World Bank Scheme that is ongoing the scheme is to help upgrade tourist sites and it is a 4 million dollar fund that has been made available to the industry and it will be used for all tourist sites across the country and all the sites were assisted to apply…”
World Trade Organisation, WTO in their trade report on the virus pandemic said the effect of the coronavirus-induced border closures and travel restrictions was grossly felt by services trade, with education and tourism being the hardest-hit sectors across the globe.
The report said international tourism in 2020 is expected to register its worst performance since 1950, while some higher educational institutions are facing a potential drop in international student enrolment of 50 to 75 percent.
“Covid-19 has triggered an unprecedented crisis for the tourism sector. The situation is similar, albeit less extreme, for education services: universities and other higher education institutions have traditionally relied on the physical presence of international students to export their services, though online courses have been growing,” said the report.
Globally, tourism accounts for one in four of the net jobs created over the past five years and an estimated 10 percent of economic output.
In the education sector, tuition fees account for the largest share of most universities’ revenue, with the current number of over 5m international students typically paying higher fees than their domestic counterparts, according to the WTO.
