GH¢55 million grant earmarked for tourism sector operators – Dr Awal Mohammed

The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture has announced government will from next week start disbursing GH¢55 million worth of grants to key players in the sector.

The grants, according to Dr. Awal Mohammed is expected to assist tourism practitioners in keeping their business afloat in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Addressing journalists following a visit to some tourism facilities in Accra on June 28 2021, Dr. Awal revealed the country’s tourism sector lost about GH¢8 billion of its revenue due to the pandemic in 2020.

This is estimated to have caused about 75 percent of job losses.

“It is in this vein that the government from next week, will begin the disbursement of GH¢55 million grant to stakeholders in the sector to help revamp their businesses,” Dr. Awal said.

The minister reiterated government’s commitment towards ensuring tourist sites are attractive and well developed into acceptable standards while new ones will be created where necessary.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) the sector has suffered huge losses as travel restrictions were in place throughout 2020 owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Council said the tourism and hospitality space has since witnessed a near loss of US$4.5 trillion owing to coronavirus travel restrictions, a drop in consumer demand and border closures.

With an aggressive vaccination campaign taking place across the world, key economic growth sectors of economies are starting to witness a sense of return back to normalcy.

This is expected to boost activity and revenue in the tourism and hospitality sector.