The Ghana Tourism Authority CEO, Maame Efua Houadjeto, has commended President John Dramani Mahama’s ‘New Economy’ vision.

In a statement released to myjoyonline.com, she highlighted the prospects of the idea and urged a shift in how tourism is viewed as an engine for growth.

“The President’s New Economy vision gives tourism a new economic purpose. We must move beyond seeing tourism simply as an avenue for attracting visitors, and begin to see it as a powerful engine for investment, job creation, enterprise and wealth,” she said.

“Ghana’s culture, heritage, creativity and destinations are economic assets, and our responsibility is to transform these assets into sustainable opportunities for Ghanaians. The future of tourism is not only about how many people visit Ghana, but how much value we create from every visitor, every destination and every experience. This is the tourism economy we must build,” she further noted.

President John Dramani Mahama’s ‘New Economy’ vision is the next phase of his government’s economic programme: moving Ghana from stabilisation of the economy to production, investment, job creation and structural transformation.

It is a US$10 billion investment programme to drive economic growth and create jobs as the government shifts its focus from economic stabilisation to expanding opportunities for Ghanaians.

The programme, to be implemented over four years, will target seven priority sectors of the Ghanaian economy. These include tourism, agriculture and agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, mining and value addition, energy and power generation, and transport infrastructure.

President Mahama and Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson have already outlined the broad direction of the ‘New Economy’ framework, which is expected to be presented in the 2027 Budget to be read later this year.

In the meantime, Maame Efua Houadjeto has indicated that the tourism sector has performed creditably well over the past year.

She asserts that the Ghana Tourism Authority “has increased internally generated revenue, reduced its deficit, expanded the formal tourism sector and delivered its planned programmes, despite reduction in Government funding after the end of Ghana CARES Obaatanpa programme which the Government put in place to mitigate the impact of Covid 19 pandemic on the tourism industry.”

She further noted that with the President’s ‘New Economy’ vision in the offing, the authority is on the path to shoring up the fortunes of the tourism sector more than it has ever done.