Ghanaians spend GH¢4bn on tourism abroad in 2023
By Praisebell Rosmond Larbi
New data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) shows that Ghanaians spent an estimated GHS4 billion on outbound tourism in 2023, highlighting the growing appetite for foreign travel and its implications for the economy.
The figure includes GHS59.8 million spent by same-day travellers and GHS3.4 billion by overnight visitors, underscoring the rising financial outflow associated with cross-border trips.
The data was contained in the 2023 Domestic and Outbound Tourism Survey Reports, released in Accra by the Government Statistician, Dr Alhassan Iddrisu.
Dr Iddrisu explained that the survey provides essential baseline data on the volume, value, and expenditure of outbound visitors and supports Ghana’s efforts to develop its first Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), a system designed to quantify the sector’s contribution to GDP.
According to the report, a total of 470,806 outbound travellers were recorded in 2023, including 77,501 same-day visitors and 393,305 overnight travellers.
“Outbound same-day visitors mainly travelled for business and professional purposes, while overnight visitors travelled primarily to visit friends and relatives,” Dr Iddrisu said.
The data shows that business and professional travel accounted for about 34 per cent of same-day trips, followed by funeral-related travel at 23 per cent, while visits to friends and relatives made up nearly 40 per cent of all overnight journeys.
Regionally, the Ashanti Region recorded the highest number of same-day outbound travellers, ranging between 3,000 and 5,000 per quarter, whereas the Greater Accra Region accounted for the largest share of overnight travellers, averaging between 30,000 and 50,000 per quarter.
Most trips were made within West Africa, particularly to Togo, which also recorded the highest on-trip expenditure among same-day travellers, amounting to GHS12.8 million in the first quarter of 2023.
The GSS report found that self-arranged trips dominated spending, accounting for nearly 90 per cent of total outbound tourism expenditure among overnight travellers.
“Our data show that Ghana’s outbound tourism is largely self-managed and informal, with limited engagement of professional tour agencies,” Dr Iddrisu observed.
Overall, on-trip expenses such as accommodation, food, transport, and shopping constituted the largest share of total spending. The second quarter of 2023 recorded the highest expenditure, amounting to GHS921.5 million.
The GSS recommended several policy actions to help retain a larger share of this spending within Ghana’s economy.
These include investing in transport and hospitality infrastructure, offering tax incentives for local tour operators, and encouraging partnerships between private tour firms, airlines, and hotels to develop outbound travel packages featuring Ghanaian products and services.
“If well harnessed, Ghana can retain a significant proportion of the four billion cedis currently leaving the economy through outbound tourism,” Dr Iddrisu said, stressing the need for strategic reforms to keep tourism earnings local.
The report also called on development partners and civil society organisations to support small tourism enterprises with funding, training, and digital innovation.
The 2023 Domestic and Outbound Tourism Survey forms part of Ghana’s broader effort to align with Sustainable Development Goal 8.9, which promotes sustainable tourism, local culture, and product development, while building a comprehensive Tourism Satellite Account to assess the sector’s real impact on GDP.
