Developing an economy through tourism; Lessons from Washington DC

Washington District of Columbia (DC), the capital of the United States of America (USA) set an all-time record with 20.2 million visitors in 2014. This is the result of a 16 per cent boost in international visitors over the previous year according to the Washington Post.

Although about 90 per cent of the city’s visitors still come from within the United States, international visitors are an attractive target for tourism officials because they stay longer.

While the 1.9 million visitors from abroad represent only nine per cent of the total, they put up 27 per cent of the total spending, according to Destination DC, the district’s marketing arm (The numbers do not include visitors or spending in the Maryland or Virginia suburbs).

Spend

In 2014, visitors spent $6.8 billion in D.C., a 1.9 per cent bump from the previous year. The countries sending the most visitors to D.C. were China, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, India, South Korea, Brazil, Japan and Italy. Only a handful of visitors from Africa occasionally go there as tourists because they are there for other reasons.

What is there?

The question on the lips of many I guess is: What is in DC and how does the state make its money? There are no special attractions such as riding through game reserves, looking at lions, elephants in South Africa or leopards and hyenas in the Itosha National Park in Namibia. All there is in DC as far as I saw a couple of weeks ago, courtesy South African Airways (SAA) special tour for travel agents, were old buildings and monuments among other things which had been consciously and deliberately preserved.

Yes, it’s all about buildings but the state has been able to package the story about each building you find in DC to an extent that when one hears the story behind the buildings, one suddenly develops goose-bumps. They are chilling and one would not want to leave without hearing and seeing everything. That is what the state thrives on the most as far as revenue generation is concerned.

Does Ghana have same?

Yes! Ghana has many more historic buildings and monuments scattered around the country and can make hundreds of millions of dollars each year from visits to the various sites. 

To mention just a few, there is the Elmina Castle, Cape Coast Castle, Osu Castle, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, the Independence Square, the largest open air space in West Africa and many others. There are also some old buildings in several parts of the country, especially in Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi, Takoradi and Tamale. 

There are other attractions such as waterfalls, national parks, mountains, botanical gardens among other natural sites which can also be made attractive for tourists to visit.

Ghana boasts  long stretches of coastline which can be made attractive for those who prefer water sports and relaxation on the beaches. But what do we see? A larger part of the coastline is either a dumping site or a place of convenience for the inhabitants along those beaches.

The problem

With the various castles, access roads to the sites apart from the Osu Castle are in a deplorable state; this discourages people from driving there. The structures, although declared heritage sites by the United Nations, have been left to rot and the many historic parts withering away due to the salty sea waves.

When President Obama visited Ghana in the days of President Atta Mills, he took time to visit the Elmina Castle.  The effect of the story about how slaves were taken through the castle was visible on his skin, the chills and goose bumps and in the eyes of his wife, who was almost in tears. The story of the slave trade was harrowing. Unfortunately, that opportunity of having the most powerful head of state visiting the castle has been left to pass. In other jurisdictions, it would have been used as the biggest marketing point to attract others to visit the country. Presidents visit the country and they are   only taken to the Akosombo Dam or state banquets are hosted in their honour.

For the other ecological sites such as the national parks and the waterfalls, the least said about them the better. Driving there is a nightmare because access roads are in such a deplorable state, it makes one wonder what governments mean when they talk about tourism.

While in other countries tourism is being used to create thousands of jobs for the people, in Ghana, the situation is the opposite and young men and women find themselves in the streets selling dog chains in their quest to make a living. 

Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts

The ministry is expected to provide policy direction and a conducive environment to effectively mainstream the Ghanaian culture into all aspects of national life and to ensure the emergence of a strong and vibrant economy to improve and advance the tourism industry.  Last year, for instance, the Ministry completed the construction of the Accra Visitor Information Centre (AVIC) to provide one-stop shop information to tourists. Stakeholders were engaged in the preparation of the Marine Drive Tourism Development Plan, which is aimed at transforming the entire stretch of land from the Osu Castle to the Arts Centre area with variety of tourism facilities. 

It also hosted a number of festivals and programmes, all aimed at boosting tourism in the country.

In the 2016 budget statement, it was outlined that the ministry would continue with its engagement with key stakeholders including MDAs/MMDAs, traditional authorities and the private sector to mobilise support for the development and packaging of tourism, culture and creative art products. The district tourism offices will be inaugurated to decentralise tourism administration in the country.  

Unfortunately, in all that, the government could only allocate a paltry amount of GH¢38,918,393 for a sector that is pregnant with opportunities and great potential to help the government to reduce its over-reliance on borrowing for development.

As of last year, the sector made the fourth largest contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) although it could do far better. It was able to contribute about 7.8 per cent to GDP last year as against 8.4 per cent in 2009, according to World Travel and Tourism Council data.

Way forward

Some countries have taken tourism very seriously and are using it to create a lot of jobs for thousands of youths and even the older ones who have retired. In DC for instance, many of the tour guides were pensioners who were still active and could work to earn a decent living.

 Over the decades, Ghana has paid lip service to the sector and continues to do so although the leaders visit other countries to experience their rich tourism and never learn lessons to help the ailing economy.

The tourism potential is massive and the earlier something is done  to transform the sector the better. The present sector minister and many others in the past have been able to craft many programmes and projects which require execution.

However, the amount allocated to the sector in the budget can only be described as a joke and if this is how the sector will be treated, then we must as well forget about tourism and continue begging other countries which have found wisdom to develop their tourism to make money for their economies and created jobs for the people.

The story of DC is fascinating and we cannot belittle our potential because it will not be out of place to say that Ghana is more endowed with many more buildings and monuments, natural sites to sell.