Deputy tourism minister, Mark Okraku Mantey
• Creative arts industry to exploit funeral events in Ghana
• Okraku Mantey said Ghanaian funerals can boost tourism sector
• Ghanaians disagree with Mr. Okraku Mantey ‘funeral tourism’ idea
Deputy Minister for Tourism and Creative Arts ministry, Mark Okraku Mantey, has disclosed that his outfit will soon introduce funeral events as part of tourism in the country.
He said with the kind of rich cultural display coupled with the huge audience attracted by funerals, it is in the right direction to make funerals a wing of tourism in the country.
Explaining what he meant by ‘funeral tourism’, Okraku-Mantey said Muslims bury the dead on the same day of demise or just a day after but Christians preserve the corpse for a longer period before burial and all forms of rituals are performed during the funeral that may be of interest to tourists.
Buttressing his point, Mr. Okraku Mantey cited the Ashanti region where funerals are deemed a big deal and are characterized by various cultural displays.
‘Funeral tourism will be introduced soon because whether we like it or not, funeral is a big deal even in Ashanti region. Christians keep their bodies corpses and there are things you do that can attract people to go to a particular town,” the deputy minister said in a discussion with Hitz FM’s Andy Dosty.
Meanwhile, scores of individuals have disagreed with his comments on social media.
Read some reactions from social media below
