Tourism sector Critical to Ghana’s Economic Diversification- MP for Nalerigu/Gambaga

The Member of Parliament for the Nalerigu/Gambaga constituency, Hon Seidu Issifu has said that the tourism sector has the potential to improve revenue and facilitate economic development in local areas of the country.

According to him, tourism is an important venture to bring or take employment into the rural areas (where there are few or no industries) with the ultimate goal of alleviating poverty.

Hon Issifu who is a member of the Trade, Industry and Tourism Committee of Parliament made the call when he posed a question to the Minister of Tourism in parliament on Tuesday, June 7, 2022.

He wanted to know from the Ministry of Tourism whether there are plans of developing some of the tourism potential sites in the Constituency.

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture whether the Ministry has any plans of developing the following potential tourist sites in the East Mamprusi Municipality to boost domestic Tourism, the Ganbaga Escarpment, Atabiya Tuuwa, Naa-Jeringa Wall and Achenga Fishing Settlement,” Hon Seidu quizzed.

In response, the sector Minister, Mohammed Awal said the Gambaga escarpment has been identified as a suitable location for adventures sports like Paragliding, Zipline and Abseiling, while its captivating scenic view of the surrounding landscape and has a cascading waterfall and nearby Kwame Nkrumah Presidential lodge which would be rehabilitated to complement the tourism offering of the Escarpment.

According to the Minister, a comprehensive assessment by the Ghana Tourism Development Project (GTDP) of the entire tourism resources in the Northern enclave including the Gambaga Escarpment is being conducted by Amalgamated Group, a consorting planners and development consultant to formulate the tourism resources into a comprehensive master plan to guide the development of the sites.”

Similarly, Hon Awal said the Naa-Jernga Wall and the Achenga Fishing Settlement enclaves have all been identified to be suitable for tourism sites and as part of the option for the Domestic Tourism Campaign,” Eat Ghana –Share Ghana.”

He assured the MP that the government would work out to ensure the tourism potential enclaves including the Gambaga Escarpment, the Naa-Jeringa and other tourism potentials are properly developed to create employment for the local folks.

But Hon Issifu told EXPRESSNEWSGHANA, the government needs to expedite actions to facilitate diversification of the local’s economy through tourism to enhance revenue base to grow the economy and ultimately create employment for the local folks.

He said as a nation, we need to diversify our economy to a broad base and that one unique asset that we have as a nation is our tourism potentials, stressing that Kwame Nkrumah lodge at Gambaga Escarpment when properly rehabilitated could attract economic activities and fetch much revenue for the state.

“The Gambaga Escarpment is strategically located and we must utilize it effectively to generate revenue for the country and employment for the youth. We must work for the people, they queue every four years to vote us into power and they deserved better from us,” he added.

In his considered view, tourism is not only about culture, monuments, ecotourism and business but also entails much a whole totality, and having an ecosystem that supports it, emphasizing that “tourism must begin at home; it’s local, and we must have strong tourism that is locally based to attract international tourists into the country.”

Hon Issifu added that to boost ecotourism in the Constituency, his administration as MP would continue to work with the Ministry and its agencies to co-invest and develop in the local tourism potentials.