Tourism Authority trains paragliders locally

Thirteen Ghanaian soldiers and civilians are undergoing training as paragliding pilots as part of moves by the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) to boost tourism in the country.

A test training ceremony was held for the trainees at the military training grounds at Teshie in Accra, on Monday.

The annual paragliding festival is one of the main tourist attractions of the Easter celebrations in the Kwahu area in the Eastern Region.

The festival attracts local and foreign tourists but Ghana has only one local paragliding pilot, with the rest being expatriates.

Test training

Addressing the media at the training, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GTA, Mr Akwasi Agyeman, said the authority depended on foreign paragliders to fly during the paragliding festival.

The training of local paragliders, he said, was to reduce the expenditure on foreign pilots who were flown in for the occasion every year.

He explained that the training would be in phases to enable trainees to become well versed in paragliding.

To get more Ghanaian paragliders, Mr Agyeman said the authority was looking forward to establishing a paragliding school at Kwahu.

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Enhancing paragliding

As part of efforts to enhance the paragliding festival, Mr Agyeman said the authority was also expanding the take-off base at the site at Kwahu to enable it to take more paragliders at the same time.

Going forward, he said the plan was to have year-long paragliding activities, instead of the current one that was limited to only Easter festivity.

Mr Agyeman said trainees would be certified after they had qualified and that the authority was working to get equipment for the local paragliders.

The paragliding instructor, Mr Ed Stein, said the trainees needed to embark on periodic training to sharpen their skills.

He also urged the authority to provide the necessary tools and equipment for the trainees to enable them to fly safely.