The Ghana Tourism Authority has engaged stakeholders on the draft standards for Multi-Purpose Establishments.

The discussions which aimed at registration and licensing regime of Multi-Purpose Establishments including Conference Centres, Convention / Exhibition Centres, Event Centres, Banquet Facilities, etc., took place on Wednesday, 17th August, 2022.

As part of his opening remarks, Deputy Chief Executive / Operations of Ghana Tourism Authority, Mr. Ekow Sampson, stated that the Authority deemed it appropriate to engage the leadership of Events and Meetings Professionals Association of Ghana (EMPAG) as well as Event Vendors Association of Ghana (EVAG) on the subject matter.

Director of Standards and Quality Assurance, Mr. Alex Boakye also noted that 'multi-purpose establishment' refers to any premises hired out for the purpose of holding functions such as meetings, conferences, conventions, exhibitions, seminars, workshops, banquets, social events and any related function which is not part of any registered accommodation establishment. He stated that the regulations will come into force after it has been passed by Parliament.

The President of EMPAG and EVAG, Mrs. Theresa Ayoade and Kate Hassan respectively, expressed appreciation to the leadership of the Authority for engaging them appropriately to ensure a fair representation of the industry professionals in the drafting stage of the document. The leadership of EMPAG and EVAG assured the meeting that they will also in turn engage their members on further deliberations in order to have appropriate inputs where necessary.

The meeting unanimously agreed to take into careful consideration, health and safety, risk assessment and management (risk test), insurance, amongst others. A strategy would be put in place to conduct sensitization and awareness campaign for all multi-purpose establishments.

Present at the deliberations were also the Solicitor Secretary of GTA, Mrs. Stella Osei, Standards and Quality Assurance Officers of GTA; Comfort Aniagyei, Roberta Okine-Fumador, Sellassie Piphanie Tetteri, Ama Akoto and Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi of the Corporate Affairs Department, GTA.

Representing EMPAG and EVAG were also Margaret Danso Gyau, Financial Secretary of EVAG and Robert Klah, a member of EMPAG.