Nineteen months into the NDC government’s four-year term, Ghana’s tourism, culture and creative economy is confronting an old political favourite: big promises, busy calendars and delivery that remains stuck somewhere between “coming soon” and “stakeholder engagement.”
There have been launches, consultations, partnerships, speeches and enough photographs to fill a national archive. But governance is not a photography competition. Policy is ultimately measured by what changes beyond the podium.
The tourism numbers offer a curious contradiction. International arrivals rose from 1.29 million in 2024 to 1.31 million in 2025, while licensed tourism businesses and domestic visits also increased. So, yes, more people came.
Then the calculator cleared its throat.
Tourism receipts fell sharply, from about $4.82 billion to $4.34 billion, while average visitor spending dropped from roughly $3,743 to $3,320.
So Ghana welcomed more visitors but earned less from them.
That is hardly a Champions League victory. It is closer to hosting a bigger party, watching the crowd grow, and then discovering that everybody remembered to bring their own drinks.
Big Star, Small Experience
The government’s flagship tourism and creative-economy initiative, the Black Star Experience, was launched in May 2025 with an ambitious promise: to package Ghana’s tourism, culture and creative industries into a compelling, year-round national experience encompassing music, film, fashion, food, literature, architecture, design and heritage.
On paper, it is a brilliant idea.
Ghana has no shortage of things to sell. We have castles, beaches, festivals, cuisine, fashion, music, history, hospitality and a cultural identity recognised by millions around the world.
But here is the uncomfortable truth: in the eyes and minds of Ghanaian creators, the Black Star Experience as promised is already a failure.
Not because the idea is bad. Quite the opposite. The idea is so good that the disappointment is even greater.
Creators were promised an experience that would place them at the centre of a national economic and cultural renaissance. What many have instead encountered is the familiar language of launches, announcements and expectations without the corresponding scale of visible opportunity, financing, market access and sustained income.
A Black Star Experience worthy of the name should mean that a visitor who attends a Ghanaian music festival also eats Ghanaian food, buys Ghanaian fashion, visits a heritage site, stays in a local hotel and travels beyond Accra. One visitor should generate several streams of income for Ghanaian businesses and creators.
That is how culture becomes economic policy.
At present, too many creators are still asking the most basic question: where is the experience?
Highlife Has UNESCO Recognition. Now Let It Make Money.
There is reason for optimism. In December 2025, UNESCO inscribed Ghana’s Highlife music and dance on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
That is a major cultural victory.
Highlife has officially moved from Uncle Kofi’s family party playlist to the international heritage register.
But recognition is only the opening verse.
The real test is whether UNESCO status translates into festivals, international performances, music tourism, education, intellectual property protection and sustainable income for musicians and cultural practitioners.
A UNESCO inscription is prestigious.
Unfortunately, prestige does not pay studio rent.
Copyright: The 19-Month Silence Is Getting Loud
Perhaps nowhere is the credibility gap more frustrating than copyright administration.
The NDC spokesperson, broadcaster, campaigner and chairman of GHAMRO publicly argued that the organisation’s lack of a license was politically motivated. That was a serious allegation and, naturally, creators expected the incoming government to resolve the matter.
Yet 19 clear months into an NDC government, nothing meaningful has happened to settle the issue.
That silence is difficult to explain to the very creators whose livelihoods depend on copyright.
If the previous administration’s position was political, then the political excuse should have disappeared when political power changed hands.
Instead, the problem appears to have found a comfortable new home in the neighbourhood of “we are working on it.”
Creators cannot pay bills with “ongoing discussions.” Songwriters cannot eat stakeholder engagements. Producers cannot invoice a workshop. And copyright holders certainly cannot build sustainable careers on promises.
Money Must Leave the Budget and Enter the Industry
The 2026 Budget allocated GH¢20 million to the Creative Arts Fund and another GH¢20 million to the Film Fund as seed financing.
That is welcome.
But creatives understandably want to know when the money moves from budget documents to bank accounts.
Because an allocation is not a disbursement. A disbursement is not investment. And investment is not impact until somebody can point to a film produced, a business expanded, a job created or a creative earning sustainably.
The same principle applies to infrastructure.
Ghana wants to position itself as a regional hub for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions, yet the Accra International Conference Centre was closed in March 2026 for renovation, with no reopening date initially announced.
Renovation is necessary. But a country cannot market itself as an events destination while some of its most important event infrastructure is unavailable.
World-class conferences cannot be hosted in PowerPoint.
Ghana Does Not Need More Announcements
The government has roughly 29 months remaining in its mandate.
That is enough time to deliver meaningful results, but not enough time for ambitious promises to remain permanently trapped in the respectable neighbourhood of “ongoing engagements.”
The government should publish a straightforward Black Star Delivery Dashboard showing, for every major commitment:
• the amount allocated;
• the amount actually released;
• the responsible agency;
• measurable progress; and
• the expected completion date.
No political poetry.
Just numbers.
Because Ghana does not lack ideas. Ghana lacks consistency in converting ideas into durable economic value.
The Next 29 Months Must Be About Delivery
The Black Star Experience can still become a powerful national brand. Highlife can become a stronger export industry. Tourism can generate more foreign exchange. Creative financing can unlock businesses. MICE can attract serious international spending.
But all of this requires one ingredient that cannot be launched at a press conference: delivery.
After 19 months, the government deserves credit for initiatives and achievements. But it must also accept scrutiny over the distance between announcement and measurable impact.
The next 29 months should therefore be less about launching and more about scaling; less announcing and more delivering; fewer committees and more construction; fewer budget allocations and more actual financing; fewer arrival statistics and more spending statistics.
Ghana’s Black Star is already shining in the imagination of the world.
The question is whether government can make that light translate into livelihoods for the people whose creativity gives the star its meaning.
Otherwise, we may spend four years admiring the bulb while the electricity bill remains unpaid.
