The Western Regional Minister, Mr. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, says the Western Region is endowed with a lot of tourist attractions, some of which were untapped.
Hence the need for stakeholders to build their capacity to take advantage of the opportunities available.
Mr. Okyere Darko-Mensah was speaking through online platform zoom at a capacity building workshop organised by IGOGHANA (an online tour agency), in collaboration with the Authority for stakeholders in the tourism sector.
The Takoradi MP also announced that the Twin City of Sekondi-Takoradi was emerging as the face of Christmas in Ghana and the world at large. This is because of the “Takoradi Bronya” initiative and other corresponding programmes like the Ankors festival and street carnivals.
Therefore, he implored the participants to leverage on the opportunities. They should position their businesses to rake in the maximum benefits and tap into the huge opportunities that existed in the digital market to improve on their ventures.
The Western Regional Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority Mr. George Nkrumah Ansere, noted that the use of the internet and rise in E-Commerce for goods and services are merits of the digital economy. He said, it has helped to reduce corruption in the market.
According to him the advent of technology, which had enhanced globalization, especially in the post-COVID-19 era, has given room for digital and traditional economies to merge, giving rise to many new trends and start-up ideas.
The workshop on the theme: “Developing a Cutting-edge Tourism Package in an Emerging Digital Economy”, aimed at exposing participants to the untapped opportunities and best practices in the business of tourism.
It further offered opportunities for brainstorming to generate ideas, build synergies to develop a city tour and a marketable tourism package among other things for the stakeholders in the Western Region.
Participants included managers in the hospitality, travel and tour industry, tour guides and members of the Traditional Caterers and Drinking Bar Operators associations.
Mr. Ansere urged them to fulfil the service expectations of digitally-empowered customers, offer more experiences at great costs, and become more innovative to respond to the highly competitive environment.
He described the workshop as timely to empower participants, to take full advantage of the digital economy in the post-COVID dispensation for improved and profitable services.
Mr. Seth Ameyaw Danquah, a tourism advocate, who facilitated the workshop, said the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the need for digital businesses in the form of digital communications and online sales, with travel businesses relying on a range of digital processes to be efficient and competitive.
To attract the tour operator market around the world, industry players should include digital processes in their operations to gain competitive advantage, he said.
Mr. Danquah, who spoke on: Positioning your business for gains in an emerging digital economy, said almost all the big companies in the world like Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon took advantage of the digital economy to become giants in the digital world.
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