A few weeks ago, I was scrolling on Tiktok and a video popped up on my feed where a creator talks about how he feels we as a country are losing our “Ghanaianess”. He talks about how we are losing very crucial parts of our culture from our language to our fashion. He talks about how this may be due to social media and globalization and I agree with his take. As someone who has never travelled to her hometown this had me thinking how his take is also directly linked to the fact that domestic tourism isn’t something we as a people involve ourselves in. Ask the average Ghanaian a place they would like to visit and they’d be quick to respond “The Eiffel Tower” or “the Burj Khalifa”. Understandable because we all want to see the sights and wonders of the world but how about beauty right here at home?
When we do travel within the country it’s mostly for social reasons; we are attending a funeral in another region or it’s out year group’s reunion or it’s a work trip to Kumasi. Official data from the Ghana Tourism Authority shows that numbers for domestic tourism sit at 1.79 million annually while we have a population of over thirty-four million. When we think of travelling for leisure, we rarely think of staying within our country. And that’s where the problem stems from. How can we hope to retain our heritage when we barely visit the places that hold this culture? How can we expect to remember the language when we do not know our way home?
All this shouldn’t be the case when the Ghana Tourism Agency has many campaigns running that market domestic tourism for example the See Ghana, Eat Ghana, Wear Ghana and Feel Ghana campaign which encourages us to travel to more places within the country, try out more local cuisines and listen to more of the local folklore and music. Also, in Cape Coast there is the #VisitCapeCoast Campaign which aims to make the city a hub of attraction for not only international tourists but for citizens within the country and also locals of the city.
Even with all these different initiatives the people do not seem to be encouraged to tour the country. This may be because of the current income constraint that many may face. Travel seems like a luxury considering to travel comfortably inter-regionally using road transport is out of the question not only because of the long hours but also because most of our roads are under construction or need construction causing trips to be bumpy in addition to long. This leaves air travel but plane tickets are costly and not every region within our country has an airport.
Even after we somehow manage to travel to these places there is the issue of hotel prices and how we are charged the same prices as foreigners and these high rates discourage many from travelling. Some people also argue that the campaigns feel like they are tailored more for the diasporans than they are locals and that disconnect is what has stopped them from involving themselves in it. If these problems aren’t fixed then we run a risk of completely losing ourselves along with these under travelled sites.
Recently the President announced plans for new or regional airport developments for regions like the Upper West and also Bono and also, the new Bolgatanga airport is projected to be completed in twenty-four months this would cut down on long hours of travel and encourage inter regional tourism. To deal with the issue of high hotel prices, hotels can introduce subsidized tier pricing for local residents. The Tourism Authority can also organize budget friendly weekend group tours for locals interested, regional exchange trips could be adapted into our school curriculum to spark the younger generations interest in travel and also allow them to learn different cultures from within our country.
We must remember that as a people our identity is never truly lost it waits in every village and festival and every story we haven’t lost our culture we have just stopped visiting it. The “Ghanaianess” we claim to be losing is waiting for us; and all we need to revive it is just take a bus somewhere to find it.
Maame Ama Boa Effah
Intern
Corporate Affairs
Ghana Tourism Authority
