The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) and the UN World Tourism Organisation held the 3^rd edition of the Africa Youth in Tourism.

Summit and Challenge to gather African youths to share new ideas to help revive the sector.

According to the Minister for Tourism, Arts and culture, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, who spoke at the Africa Youth in Tourism Summit and Challenge, Africa has a youthful population, therefore, cannot grow without the support of the youth. 

He stated, “government will train 30,000 SMEs in the tourism sector in the next two years and equip them, spend about ¢120 million as seed capital for them”.  

He further added, “From next year, Ghana wants tourism to generate ¢5 million.”

Dr Mohammed Awal, therefore, urged the youth to be creative and innovative to contribute to the growth of the sector.

Also speaking at the summit, the UN World Tourism Organisation, Elcia Grandcourt stated the youth in Africa have new ideas to help boost the tourism sector.

She stated, “We know that within the Africa continent, there are a lot of new ideas that the youth are coming up with especially to help stimulate the tourism sector because now we cannot keep doing things differently.”

The summit is the first of its kind done on the African continent and there’s is a continuity once these youth take part in these challenges in order to enlarge the database of different partners and entrepreneurs they meet.

Tourism in Ghana is currently the fourth largest source of foreign exchange earnings estimated at $2.2 million, according to GTA.

There has been a 70% decline in all foreign tourist arrivals in the country largely induced by the Covid-19 pandemic.