Ghana in World List of Tourist Attractions

Oheneba Dr. Leslie Akyaa Opoku-Ware, Ghana’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation, has received an International Certificate of Tourism Attractiveness for promoting tourism as an integral part of trade, economic and humanitarian cooperation.

The certificate was presented by Professor Anicet Gabriel Kotchofa, the Secretary General of the International Committee on Tourism Attractiveness and Sustainable Tourism Development, and Vladimir Piskurev, the Chairman of the International Committee, at a solemn ceremony in Moscow.

The Spring Session of the Committee, at its meeting in Istanbul, unanimously decided to include two tourist sites from Ghana in the World List of Tourist Attractions.

The Republic of Ghana is one of the unique countries on the African Continent with her ancient history revealing to the world many unique cultures, which had attracted tourists from time immemorial.

Wild savanna, fauna, mangroves, lagoons and sand dunes issued a challenge to bold travellers, but ordinary tourists who prefer a comfortable beach vacation, alternating with distant excursions from the extreme, have discovered Ghana relatively recently.

Ghana has the Gulf of Guinea to the south, Cote d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to the east.

Called the “fortress country” Ghana has, along her coastline, a series of ancient forts, about 250 of them, founded by the Europeans, most of which are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Oheneba Dr. Opoku-Ware, a medical practitioner, noted that Ghana would move forward in the development and popularisation of such remarkable places as the St. George’s Castle in Elmina and the Mole National Park in the Upper East Region.

“I believe that tourists from all over the world should be given the opportunity to assess the whole panorama of our country, cultural, historical, and natural heritage,” she said.

The Ambassador noted that promoting tourism as an integral part of trade, economic and humanitarian cooperation was an urgent and promising task to market Ghana’s tourism products and improve the lot of the industry.

“For our country, it is a great honour to receive the International Certificates of Tourism Attractiveness for two sites,” Dr Opoku-Ware said, adding that this would serve as an additional guarantee for increasing the interest of tourists to the country to grow the tourism industry.

Kester Kenn Klomegah, Moscow