The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has commenced a five-day training programme for 65 Inspectorate officers across the Country at the Accra Tourist Information Centre (ATIC).

The training programme which falls under the tourism component of government's 'Ghana Cares (Obaatanpa)' initiative is to expose the inspectors on safety and security, industry best practices, inspection criteria and defects, Covid-19 protocols among other topics.

The CEO of the Authority, Akwasi Agyeman said the training programme has become necessary because the inspectors need new skills and knowledge in their line of duty.

This he said will ensure that quality standards and safety protocols are adhered to in the hospitality industry.

Mr Agyeman reiterated that his outfit is working closely with the Covid-19 task force of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), COTVET, and other law enforcement agencies who will serve as resource persons during this training programme.

He said that the tourism training component of the Obaatampa initiative includes product knowledge, customer service, digital marketing, sales and basic language skills in French.

The Ghana Cares project will tackle sector skills revitalization, address the low quality of tourism assets, enhance marketing and branding of tourism and help reduce other high costs of doing business.

At the end of the 18 month period, the sector skills program will train 10,000 operators in the tourism value chain.