The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) Ladies Club has held its maiden ‘Rep your Region’ campaign to climax this year’s heritage month celebrations. The campaign on the theme: ‘Our Culture, Our Heritage’ aims at showcasing, marketing and selling Ghana’s rich culture by way of cuisine, regalia and dance. It is also to whip up the interest of the staff and the public to appreciate Ghana’s tourism, arts and cultural potential and engender cross cultural exchange. Prof. Tata Nkunu Akyea, Tourism and Heritage Educator, said there were many things that bound Ghanaians together even though every human being was an entity created uniquely from each other. He said nature did not create humans to live in isolation but to live and interact with other people and to be able to live harmoniously and ‘it was important to agree and identify ourselves with one culture, which is our Ghanaian culture, a common element that binds us together rather than divides us.’ He said culture was a creation of a community of a people and never an individual entity, ‘it is a social heritage of a group that is passed on, a learned behaviour and it is dynamic.’ ‘Even though culture is dynamic let us get away from the attitude of copying too much because that robs us of an important ingredient which is the heart of our culture,’ he added. Prof. Akyea commended the Club for the initiative and urged them as frontliners in the heritage industry, to learn more about Ghana’s culture and heritage, especially now that they had become the centre of the whole business. Mr Akwasi Agyeman, Chief Executive Officer, GTA, applauded the Club for the idea to climax the heritage month, which has become a successful one this year with the support of the media. He said looking at the numbers coming in, there had been an increase in domestic tourism, and this was very important because ‘if we do not visit the various sites, don’t eat our own food, don’t wear our own cloths, we cannot develop as a country.’ ‘So, when we talk about the See Ghana, Eat Ghana, Wear Ghana and Feel Ghana initiatives it shows that we have something good in this country and we must be proud of what we have and our heritage and do well to consume our own.’ Mr Agyeman commended all staff of the Authority for their dedication and commitment towards the promotion of Ghana’s tourism, saying ‘if you look at how tourism has become part of the national discussion now, it is because of the work we all put together, so do not relent in your efforts.’ Lady Francisca Kuukuwah Yanneyba Quansah, President GTA Ladies Club, said the campaign was for the staff, both men and women to display the cultures, customs and traditions in terms of food, clothes, music, and dance of all the 16 regions. She said GTA’s domestic tourism campaign and other initiatives sought to position Ghana as a preferred tourism destination in West Africa and Africa and we were gradually offering Ghana the opportunity to develop its local tourism to be able to attract the diasporan Community. ‘It is indeed time for us to make Ghana the place for domestic tourism and investment in progress and prosperity and not where our youth flee with the hope of accessing the proverbial greener pastures.’ Lady Quansah noted that ‘to face the stiff competition with other destinations in Africa and the world at large, it is imperative that we do things right to attract the needed tourists to Ghana in order to rake in the substantial foreign exchange and derive the full benefits.’ Madam Brandina Djagba, Wear Ghana Ambassador, commended the Club for such an initiative and urged Ghanaians ‘to learn and acknowledged that our culture is our heritage and we must embrace, value and market it to the other world because for them tourism is their source of revenue so we have we must cherish and market what we have in other to also generate some revenue from it.’
Source: Ghana News Agency