D-Black promotes Ghana -Says ‘we are a hidden gem’

Desmond Blackmore is an artiste who took it upon himself to venture into event organisation some years back with the aim of promoting tourism in Ghana.

So far, it can be said that Blackmore who goes by the stage name D-Black, has done well for himself with events such as Bukom Banku vs Ayittey Powers, Kundum Festival, Celebrity Soccer in Koforidua among others, under his sleeves.

Though he organised ‘Tropical Fiesta 1’ in January 2021 at the Maaha Beach near Axim, his event that got the buzz was ‘Tropical Fiesta 2’ (Beyond the Return) which came off at the Royal Senchi Hotel in Akosombo in December, 2021.

The patronage was so huge that the entire Royal Senchi Hotel was closed down for the weekend, something that is unusual. The success also propelled him to a do a part two called Tropical Fiesta (Akwaaba Edition) in January 2022.

This act, according to the CEO of Live Wire Event, D-Black, has opened his mind to a lot of things so far as tourism in Ghana is concerned.

Hidden gem

“We knew we wanted to take part of the Beyond the Return theme Ghana had last year and do something but we were not sure the turnout would be that great. We had people from different countries join us; South Africa, Nigeria, United States, United Kingdom, among others taking part in these events and the only thing I kept telling myself was that Ghana is a hidden gem in the tourism sector.

“What we fail to understand is that tourism goes beyond taking people to the castles, monuments etc; it has to do with selling our culture to the people. And what is culture? It is a way of life; how we live our life, through the food we eat, what we wear, music etc and that was what the two events I held gave people who came,” he said.

“The first was massively patronised that we had to do a second and that was also very great. We had a blend of comedy activities, a musical show, arts exhibition, food tasting etc., everyone who left the venue at the end of the day went home with an experience.”

“Ghana can be that destination, we can do it, we need the right minds to put these things together so that we can move. We have no idea what we can do and what we have so far as tourism is concerned,” he told the Daily Graphic in an interview.

Why tourism?

The Sheege rapper explained his reasons for contributing his quota to the tourism industry. “I love Ghana and I feel we can do more. I also love travelling; I have travelled and learnt a lot so in my own way, I try to put all together to help boost our tourism sector. Hopefully others will follow suit. I am an artiste as well; I love music so I believe we can put it all together and make something big out of it,” he opined.

In 2017, the Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the Ghana Tourism Authority, appointed D-Black and some artistes as tourism ambassadors. However, not much has been heard about them.

Ambassadors

Commenting on it, the Vera rapper answered, “I don’t think anyone is still in. Although we were chosen for the role, I’m not sure we still are ambassadors. Having said that, I would like to state that we had some agreement with the authorities and unfortunately, it hasn’t been fulfilled till date, we still await the commencement of projects though.”

He also noted that the benefits of tourism were not all about making money.

“Tourism is beneficial in many ways besides financial gains. It’s educational as well. It takes you on a journey of experiencing places and things you haven’t encountered and it showcases our culture and that’s the best of it all. With this we sell ourselves to the outside world and we eventually end up being the destination,” D-Black said.

Away from that, D-Black spoke about what he had in store for his fans and music lovers.

New album

“My Loyalty the Deluxe Album is out. I have six new songs, some remixes and new bangers with Gyakie, Sarkodie, Sefa, Fameye, Kamo Mphela and Semi T from South Africa and a collaboration with OT Genasis from the USA, so my fans can check it out,” he disclosed.

He continued, “I would also want to use this opportunity to thank all my fans for the love, all those who have patronised anything coming from my end in one way or the other, thank you. I appreciate the love.

“Let us also note that COVID -19 is still around so let’s be careful. Also, we have a lot more events coming up. We are bent on promoting Ghana to the world. We want to be the reason people will book flights just to come and see us and go back and we will need the support of all,” D-Black said.