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The
Chief
Executive
Officer
of
the
Ghana
Tourism
Authority
(GTA),
Akwasi
Agyeman
has
said
the
tourism
sector
in
general
has
strongly
bounced
back
from
the
setbacks
and
devastating
impact
of
the
Covid-19
pandemic.
Speaking
in
an
interview
on
TV3’s
New
Day,
July
5,
2024,
Akwasi
Agyeman
explained
that
indicators
such
as
international
arrivals,
domestic
numbers
and
others
for
last
year’s
tourism
sector
report
shot
up
and,
in
some
cases,
exceeded
pre-pandemic
era.
The
CEO
of
the
GTA
is
confident
that
Ghana’s
tourism
sector
is
on
the
path
of
getting
to
the
top
with
its
incremental
growth
over
the
last
few
years
despite
the
existing
challenges.
“Generally,
I
would
say
that
we
have
recovered
strongly
from
COVID.
Last
year,
our
report
that
we
put
out
said
strong
recovery…all
the
various
indicators
show
that
we
have
managed
to
recovered
and,
in
some
cases,
beating
pre-pandemic
levels.
“If
you
compare
2019
to
2023,
you
will
clearly
see
that
we
have
done
a
good
job
with
that.
The
sector
for
me
is
one
that
got
potential.
If
you
ask
me,
I
will
say
the
glass
is
half
full
rather
than
half
empty
because
every
year
we
see
growth,
sometimes
in
excess
of
55%,”
he
stated.
Ghana’s
economy
just
like
the
global
economy
was
hit
hard
by
the
covid-19
pandemic
shutting
down
the
tourism
sector
and
all
planned
activities
to
boost
tourism.
The
2023
tourism
sector
report
highlighted
that
the
sector’s
total
revenue
plummeted
to
a
record
low
of
$387
million
in
2020,
marking
an
88%
decrease
due
to
the
Covid-19
pandemic.
In
2021,
the
revenue
went
up
to
$2.1
billion
in
2021,
a
figure
which
was
low
compared
to
the
pre-pandemic
era.
However,
the
sector
seems
to
be
recovering
as
there
were
positive
indicators
of
recovery
with
an
increase
in
both
average
tourist
expenditure
to
$2,743
and
sector
receipt
to
$2.7
billion
by
2022.
The
2023
Tourism
sector
report
forecasted
that
in
2023,
the
average
tourist
expenditure
would
rise
to
$3,746.65,
translating
to
a
projected
sector
revenue
of
$3.8
billion,
a
significant
51.9%
increase
from
the
previous
year.