Abeiku for Ndaba Expo
Radio and television personality, Gilbert Aggrey, popularly known as Abeiku Santana, has been selected as an ambassador of tourism expo event, Indaba in South Africa.
Abeiku, who serves as the Media Relations Officer of the Tour Operators Association of Ghana (TOUGHA) of which he is a member, would participate in the 2016 edition of the festival which started from Monday, May 2, and would end on May 9 at Durban, South Africa.
The radio presenter who commands a huge following on social media has been mandated to promote Ghana’s unique identity at the expo as a way of attracting investment into the sector.
Tourism Indaba expo, an annual event, is one of the largest tourism marketing events on the African calendar.
The event, which showcases the widest variety of Southern Africa’s best tourism products, has become one of the top three ‘must visit’ events of its kind across the world.
Abeiku, who is also pursuing a Master’s degree programme in Tourism at the University of Cape Coast, told Graphic Showbiz that Ghana could become a tourism hub within the West African sub-region if similar attention was paid to the country’s tourism sector.
He was of the view that a large number of natural and heritage attractions which exist in the country could be packaged well to have unique identity to attract potential tourists across the world.
“The route of African civilisation, slave trade and political democracy were all established in Ghana, but where is the monumental evidence that Ghana is a beacon of democracy in Africa? Abeiku queried.
“The Christiansburg Castle which once served as a seat for various governments, has a symbolic history and its location makes it perfect for tourist attraction,” he said.
He expressed regret that beaches in the country have become noted for faecal matter when such resources in other countries across the sub-region were a major revenue earner for the local economy.
“If we don’t package and conserve our attractions well, soon, people would come to Ghana and there would be nowhere to go for sightseeing,” he said.
While expressing appreciation to the Executive Director of TOUGHA, Mrs Nancy Sam, and the executive body for the honour done him, Abeiku appealed to the Ghana Tourism Development Authourity (GTDA) to endeavour to identify a brand identity for the country as a way of developing the sector.
He also called on the GTDA and its stakeholder bodies to endeavour to get a policy in place to guide the growth of the sector.
