Ghanaian royalty, music, souvenirs and snacks were on offer for sampling as ‘Ghana Day’ was marked at the ongoing World Tourism Fair in the UK. For four hours Exhibition Hall A 290 came to a near halt as hundreds of exhibitors from other stands and visitors converged round Ghana’s zone. The country’s cute but effective stand was draped in lively and colourful images of kente, Cape Coast Castle, a traditional chief in palanquin, Kakum Park and the Black Stars team in the heat of football action. A TV plasma screen also beamed sights and sounds of Ghana. Just as all thought Ghana had out-shone its neighbours, arrived international football star Asamoah Gyan. ‘It’s good you have come to identify with your country, Asamoah’ was told by Hon. Akua Sena Dansua, Minister of Tourism who received the football star to the stands. As if on cue, the DJ slotted in Castro and Asamoah Gyan’s hiplife ‘Ghana Girls’sending an excited crowd into a dance ecstasy. Dressed in a blue long sleeved shirt over jeans, Gyan was clearly overwhelmed by a crowd that is not cheering him to score a goal but promote his country’s tourism. ‘It feels nice to be here’, the soccer star said. ‘Ghana is a beauty country and we should all be proud’. Asamoah plays as a striker for Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, on loan from Sunderland. Other dignitaries who participated in the fair were Prof Danso-Boafo, High Commissioner to the UK, Hon. Alhaji Amadu Sorogho, Chairman, Parliamentary select Committee on Tourism, Hon. Kofi Osei, Hon Gifty Klenam and Mrs. Emelia Brew-Butler Executive Director Ghana Tourism Development Company. ‘Ghana Day’ is a PR and social activity targeted at increasing interaction between the country’s exhibitors and clients at the travel fair. It is designed as an open house to communicate places, events and activities that depict Ghana as a tourist destination. Among the crowd were tour operators, hoteliers media personnel and suppliers in the tourism business from different parts of the world. Also in attendance were individuals who had come to learn more about the country they hope to visit one day. While some visitors were busily grabbing chinchinga and kelewele to eat others danced to hiplife, kete, kpanlogo and borborbor music that cracked through the British autumn air.