A renowned European tourism academy has expressed interest to partner the Ministry of Tourism to establish a tourism academy at Axim in the Western Region to develop the sector. To this end, the Embassy of Federal Republic of Germany in Ghana is facilitating the interaction between the ministry and management of the academy to ensure realisation of this objective. Mr. Hans Christian Winkler, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Federal Republic of Germany in Ghana announced this during a courtesy call on Mrs. Sarbah Zita Okaikoi, Minister of Tourism, at her office in Accra on Friday. It was to discuss cooperation between the Ministry and the Embassy to promote tourism development between Ghanaian and German tour operators. Mr. Winkler, who did not disclose the identity of the academy, said when established, it would help train Ghanaian operators as well as potential operators to improve their skills to increase patronage in the industry in Ghana. He said Germany had the expertise and a lot of tourist facilities adding German tour operators were willing to share such expertise with their Ghanaian counterparts. Mrs. Okaikoi acknowledged the importance of Germany in international tourism and expressed the Ministry's preparedness to partner management of the academy to establish a tourism academy in Ghana. She said already, there were various institutions in the country that trained people on tourism adding "establishment of the academy would help to further improve expertise of Ghanaian operators". Mrs. Okaikoi announced that the Ministry in collaboration with Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) had planned to organise an international tourism forum this year to woo investors to invest in the country's tourism sector. She called for collaboration between Ghana and Germany to train pilots to help in the country's paragliding festival. Mrs. Okaikoi called for continued collaboration to improve tourism industry in the country. Source: GNA