Tourism fiesta ‘December in GH’ to spread outside Accra
The government is making efforts to extend the euphoria of the ‘December in GH’ carnival to the other parts of the country to give tourism a massive boost.
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The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Awal Mohammed, said the move was to ensure that other parts of the country, particularly the northern regions, also benefited from the myriad of activities earmarked for the occasion.
“Most of the activities usually happen in the southern part of the country and we feel the northern side has been left out.
We want to bring the country into one unification and celebrate the event,” he said.
Dr Mohammed said this when officials from The Taste of Afrika, organisers of the Cultural Oneness Festival, paid a courtesy call on him at his office yesterday.
The Cultural Oneness Festival is an event that seeks to celebrate and showcase the rich cultures of the country’s diverse communities.
The event, which is being organised by The Taste of Afrika, in partnership with the African Tourism Board, is slated for the Northern Region in December this year to coincide with the Christmas festivities.
National unity
“Ghana is very rich in cultural heritage so when people begin to move from their regions to experience other regions, it doesn’t only ensure that they identify and respect each other’s culture but it also creates national unity.
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It also brings in money and helps reduce rural poverty,” the minister said.
He said the festival would help spread the activities of the ‘December in GH’ and also help to promote national unity.
The minister noted that activities of the event were too concentrated in the country’s capital and that it had always been his desire to get it spread across every part of the country.
For that reason, he said the Cultural Oneness Festival, which had its focus on the northern part of the country, was timely as it would help enrich the activities of ‘December in GH’ and also ensure that areas in the northern part of the country benefited.
“So, it’s very good that you are coming to enrich ‘December in GH’.
The President has already directed that we spread the activities of ‘December in GH’ across the country so this has come at a very timely period and we are going to support you and make sure that the festival is successful,” Dr Mohammed assured.
Investment
He also urged members of the Diaspora to make Ghana their preferred tourism destination and reconnect with the people when they visited.
Aside from that, he advised them to invest in the country as there were many opportunities they could tap into.
“They’ve stayed in America and the Caribbeans for long and they’ve gathered a lot of ideas and the resources as well, so when they come, they must make sure they invest to help improve our economy,” Dr Mohammed said.
The festival
The Chief Executive Officer of The Taste of Afrika, Tengol K. Kplemani, expressed his gratitude to the minister for throwing his weight behind the festival.
He said the festival’s purpose was to promote cultural awareness and solidarity, as well as distinctive customs, arts, and music, particularly in the northern part of the country, which was sometimes overlooked when it came to such high-level events.
He said the festival aimed at highlighting the cultural diversity in the northern part of the country and also gave tourism in those areas a unique flavour.
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“To us, our vision for this project is aimed at, among other things, projecting the continent’s diverse cultural heritage and identity and connecting its roots to the Diaspora and the rest of the world,” he said.