Tourism receipts hit $3.81bn 2023 - Up from $2.51bn in 2022

The country’s tourism receipts rose from $2.51 billion in 2022 to $3 billion last year, surpassing the pre-COVID-19 record of $3.31 billion.

Last year’s all-time high receipts accrued from 1.148 million tourists, posting a substantial increase over the pre-COVID-19 turnover of 1.13 million visitors mainly due to the Year of Return initiative.

In addition, the number of tourists for last year was 25 per cent more than the 914,892 recorded in 2022, while the receipts represented a 51.9 per cent increase over 2022. The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) made this known last Monday when it presented the 2023 Tourism Report, which celebrates the significant strides made in Ghana’s tourism ecosystem following the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

2023 Tourism Report

The 2023 Tourism Report, titled: “Strong Recovery”, is the fifth in the series of publications since 2019, when the annual publication of the report started to tell the story of tourism in Ghana.

For domestic data, secondary data was collected monthly from selected attraction sites, while secondary data was collected from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) for international arrivals.

For inbound tourism, the GTA relied on primary data collected at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), while utilising surveys of tourism establishments in Accra, Tema and Takoradi during the DiGH festivities to compile figures for the December in GH initiative.

The GTA Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Spencer Doku, who presented the report at yesterday’s press briefing in Accra, said last year the average tourist expenditure rose to $3,746.65, up from an average tourist expenditure of $2,931 in 2019.

International travels

Mr Doku said in 2019, international arrivals stood at 1,130,307, while 2020 saw a sharp decline of 69 per cent due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said there was a remarkable rebound in the third and fourth quarters of 2021, leading to a 76 per cent surge in total arrivals during that period.

The positive trend continued with arrivals nearly doubling in 2022, marking a 47 per cent growth. “In 2023, arrivals reached 1,148,002, showing a 25 per cent increase from the previous year and a two per cent rise above pre-COVID figures, signalling a strong recovery,” he said.

He stated that the United States, Nigeria and Britain stood out as the top contributors to international arrivals from 2019 to 2023. Mr Doku said last year, cruise ships docked at the Takoradi and Tema ports, welcoming a total of 9,152 visitors, who explored different attractions in the Western and Central regions.

He also indicated that the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park (KNMP) last year emerged as the premier tourist destination, drawing a substantial 208,577 visitors. Mr Doku further stated that the generating markets of DiGH participants saw the highest total arrivals of 125,461, 7.7 per cent more than the pre-pandemic arrivals of December 2019.

In terms of accommodation, he said hotel stays declined slightly to three to five per cent, while Airbnb usage surged from 11.5 per cent in 2021 to 27 per cent in 2023. He said participants stayed an average of 17 nights, with males staying slightly longer at 17 days compared to females at 16 days.

Tourism contributor

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GTA, Akwasi Agyeman, said the report was a testament to the resilience and hard work of industry partners in revitalising the country’s tourism landscape post-COVID-19.

In view of the data on KNMP, Mr Agyeman said the GTA would be working on innovation and improvement of tourist sites to attract more people. “Almost all the public facilities need some intervention and improvement, and that is why later this year we will have two new additions: the Nationalism Park and Geese Park.

For the data on Airbnb, he said the GTA had started a series of engagements with Airbnb, adding that they were close to signing an MoU on the payment of taxes and levies.

“Inasmuch as we encourage entrepreneurship, people engaged in Airbnb must abide by the rules of engagement and licences to acquire and pay the relevant taxes and levies,” he said.

The GTA CEO said the authority had opened its portal to receive proposals for events, stating that as of last Friday, it had received about 48 events.