Ghana, Houston affirm alliance
-To boost tourism inflows and business linkages
By Selorm GBORBIDZI, Accra
The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, on Saturday, welcomed a 30-member team of business people from Houston, Texas in the United States of America to Ghana.
The team, which was led by the Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner held fruitful discussions with their Ghanaian counterparts from the Ministry of Tourism and other state agencies.
According to Dr Awal, this is a reciprocal visit to one made by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to Houston in 2021, where he invited Turner to come to Ghana to explore areas of opportunity for investment and opportunity.
The meeting centred on how the Ministry could leverage on the Mayor’s influence to boost tourism inflows and business linkages between Ghana and the City of Houston.
Welcoming the 30-member delegation, Dr awal, said, even though the current tourist arrivals from the USA averaging 120 000 a year, the plan of the Ministry is to double this figure in the next two years, with the support of the Mayor and his team.
He acknowledged that the greatest need of the continent is the creation of jobs for young people, which he hopes to spearhead with the tourism sector.
He said, ‘to create jobs for Africa’s young people, we need to invest in tourism.”
“With the right amount of investment, the tourism sector should be able to create over 150,000 jobs annually,” the Minister said.
In courting more foreign investment, Dr Awal informed the delegation that the return on investment in Africa is far higher than in other continents, as investment in the continent yields about 98% return, whereas similar investments in America and Europe only yield around 18% and 21% in returns, respectively.
He invited the delegation to consider investing in tourism, hospitality, energy and agribusiness as key areas waiting for new business.
Turner indicated that the city of Houston and Ghana have a strong, vital connection, with about $240 million of trade taking place between them annually.
He was hopeful that this trade relationship between the two will see more growth, especially considering that Houston is home to some of the biggest African populations in the USA.
Turner also noted that it is important for him to “come to a continent that represents the future of the world itself.”
To cap off a fruitful meeting, he graciously accepted to be the face of Tourism in the United States for Ghana, to push up the tourism inflows from the States in general and Houston in particular and drive foreign investors to Ghana.
