By Hafsa Obeng, GNA
Accra, Dec. 20, GNA – Mr Akwasi Agyemang, Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Tourism Authority, has said that the Authority would soon outdoor a new project for next year, dubbed: “Beyond the return.”
He said the project, which follows the success of this year’s “Year of Return”, seeks to have seven pillars as it foundation.
Mr Agyemang made this known during the opening of the twelfth diaspora development dialogue, held in Accra under the theme: “The role of the African dialogue: African ambassadors and contributors to tourism growth”.
He said “Beyond the Return” would build on how to connect and match-make investments across Africa and its diaspora.
Over the year of return, many visitors that came in mentioned the issue of how to invest in the economy and partner with local businesses and small businesses to improve.
Secondly the issue of citizenship, “since the African diaspora originated from Africa, a lot of them are taking up new citizenship on their destinations because there is always the need to come back and feel you are not only a tourist, but as a citizen.
Mr Agyemang said the birthright journey was also going to be another pillar of the project, where people would go through some initiation to know that they finally had their certificates with their renaming done to become proud Ghanaians.
He said they also wanted to use the opportunity of the project to promote real estate development saying feedback gathered over the past 12 months indicates that people wanted to own a piece of the motherland, own homes, and be part of the development of Ghana and the continent.
“We have been working with some of the traditional authorities to find ways of providing land, banks and also in some cases build pan African villages that people from the diaspora can own”, he said.
The GTA CEO said they would also want the project to improve on infrastructure across the trans-Atlantic slave trail, starting from Volu in the Northern Region, to Salaga, Assin Manso, Cape Coast, Elmina among others.
He said another pillar for the project would also be an aggressive marketing and branding campaign. “We would also want to utilize the opportunity to embark on an aggressive marketing and branding campaign to change the narrative of Africa and Ghana is interested in taking the lead to define the African story properly and ensure that Africa is positioned in the way that it truly is and not that told by the Western media.”
He urged the media to be at the center of the drive, saying ‘we need to tell the true African story to the rest of the world through our medium’.
GNA
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