By Prince Acquah
Cape Coast, Mar 05, GNA – The 2025 edition of AfroTorch, an epic cultural, tourism and music festival held in December in the ancient city of Cape Coast, was launched on Wednesday with an accompanying logo.
After a successful event in 2024, the second edition promises patrons an unparalleled funfair and an entrancing experience.
The three-day festival keeps the coastal city alive with a street carnival, music concert, an all-black beach party, cultural demonstrations, masquerade procession, free heritage tours, among other fun activities.
The theme for the immersive festival scheduled for December 24 to 26 this year, is “Unleash Your Blackness.”
Mr Michael Orleans, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Torch Light Tours, founders of the festival, highlighted the potential of leisure tourism in recent years and stressed the need to leverage it to boost traditional tourism.
He noted that the festival was intended to promote tourism and culture and drive more numbers to Cape Coast during the yuletide.
He observed with worry that the “December in Ghana” activities were heavily centralised in Accra, arguing that Cape Coast as the hub of tourism needed to have a fair share of the events.
“The tourists usually stay in Accra without moving out because none of the December in Ghana programmes are in Cape Coast,” he noted.
Mr Orleans revealed that the event would feature cultural demonstrations such marriage and naming ceremonies, traditional alcohol distillation process, as well as a cuisine fair.
“The patrons should expect to immerse themselves in the best of our cultural heritage and our customs and traditions,” he assured.
The Torch Light Tours CEO announced that AfroTorch would also be launched in Cape Town in South Africa on Thursday, April 10 to draw patrons to the festival in Ghana.
With a strong belief in the potential of tourism, Mr Orleans indicated that the fortunes of Cape Coast could be turned around even without factories, citing Cape Town as a testament.
Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II, the Oguaamanhen, applauded Torch Light Tours for the initiative and pledged his support for the festival.
He also entreated the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) to do everything in its power to change the face of tourism in Cape Coast.
Mr Charles Buabin, the Central Regional Director of GTA, observed that the quest to increase tourist arrivals was a shared responsibility, commending Torch Light Tours for the initiative.
“We’re working to give tourists more experience to increase their length of stay in Cape Coast and events like AfroTorch become the vehicle to drive tourism,” he observed.
He expressed GTA’s commitment to enhancing tourism offerings by leveraging activities such as AfroTorch and pledged his office’s support for the event.
Mr Buabin also appealed to corporate bodies and individuals to sponsor and participate in the event while entreating businesses to take advantage of it to expand.
GNA