The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), last Tuesday organized an 'Experience Ghana, Share Ghana' media tour for media personnel in Accra as part of measures of promoting domestic tourism in the country.
According to the leadership of GTA, the tour was meant to encourage the Journalists to preach to their audience on the need to know their culture, patronize the open-air double-decker tour bus as well as grow the local economy.
Addressing Journalists on the tour, the Ag. Corporate Affairs Manager, GTA, said "We decided to use the city tour bus and the mummy truck (Boneshaker) as one of the ways to encourage Ghanaians to get to know their localities and communities"
The tour which began from the Accra Tourist Centre saw the open-air double-decker bus drive through some principal streets of Accra and ended at the Black Star Square.
On reaching Jamestown, one of the popular communities in the Greater Accra Region, the Journalists were briefed on the history of the location and some historic places.,
“So we started with the city tour here in Accra and eventually it is going to be replicated in all the regions, but for now we are just doing Accra. So far, touring on the bus has been a good experience and I will encourage all and sundry to patronise this initiative so that we can increase the domestic tourism numbers. We have had a meeting with the tourism trade associations to give discounts to those who want to embark on tours in the city and to all the other regions” he mentioned.
The Ag. Corporate Affairs Manager also revealed that the “Experience Ghana, Share Ghana” is the newest dynamism by the government which he believes will help promote Ghana to both its citizens and foreign nationals.
A tour guide, Mariam Yakubu said "Today's routes, we started from the Accra Information Centre, then we did the Oxford street in Osu and then ended up at the Black Star Square. We did a little at the Black Star Square. We used the Atta Mills street to old Accra and the Kwame Nkrumah stretch"
Some journalists described the tour as great, educative, and fun.
They urged the populace to embark on the bus and learn a thing or two.
Below are some pictures:
Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith