How Can Ghana Harness the GHC 4 Billion Spent Abroad Back into its Tourism Economy?
The recent Ghana Statistical Service Domestic and Outbound Tourism Survey (DOTS) reveals a critical economic opportunity hiding in plain sight: Ghanaian spending abroad on same-day tourism trips totalling GHC 59.8 million in 2023, which represents a leakage from our local tourism economy.
However, Outbound tourism (same-day & overnight) recorded a total of 470,806 visitors, with total expenditure that amounts to GHS 4.0 billion.
Tourism is not merely about travel; it is a vital mechanism for connecting people, facilitating trade, and sharing culture, pillars that underpin national development and job creation. Yet, Ghana’s potential in this sector remains underexploited, partly due to historical data gaps that limited our insights into outbound travel behaviours and expenditures.
The 2023 Outbound Same-day Visitors’ Report sheds light on the spending patterns of the 77,501 Ghanaians who cross borders daily, mainly to neighbouring Togo and Côte d’Ivoire, for business or shopping purposes. These border crossings, predominantly self-arranged, highlight the significance of informal mobility and personal networks in cross-border trade. However, while these cross-border exchanges indicate vibrant economic activity, they also expose how much Ghana loses when such spending occurs outside its borders instead of fuelling local enterprises, markets, and transport services.
Harnessing the GHC 4 billion that Ghanaians spend abroad back into the domestic economy requires deliberate, strategic action. The report identifies five clear priorities that policymakers and investors must urgently address. For Ghana to capture the full value of its citizens’ travel-related expenditure, stakeholders must recognise that tourism is a multidimensional economic engine. By building on the findings, Ghana can transform outbound spending from a lost opportunity into a catalyst for local enterprise growth, cultural connection, and national prosperity—turning cross-border mobility into a source of domestic economic strength.
