Ghanaian businesses booming after adopting ‘Year of Return’ strategy, Tourism minister reveals

According to her, the strategy has boosted the local businesses in the country and as well created room for investment opportunities.

“The entire value chain of tourism is business, if you look at those coming into the country, they are flying, buying air tickets, when they get here, their transportation to various destinations, and their hotels among others. This means that the entire hospitality sector benefit and this is business,” she said.

Adding that, "Businesses are generating revenue from this year of return because we asked our brothers and sisters from the diaspora to come home to come and see how best they can form linkages to propel Africa forward.”

The minister spoke to Business Insider after the opening ceremony of a three-day Heritage and Cultural Society of Africa (HACSA) summit on Wednesday, August 7, 2019, at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra.

The minister while addressing whether Ghana had a suitable environment for investment noted that the country is business-friendly and the government is still putting in processes to enhance the friendliness.

“Ghana is very business-friendly and currently we are undertaking a lot of initiatives to make doing business in here even easier,” she said, adding that, “Through innovations and streamlining processes, and taking advantage of technology to simplify processes, the country will be more enhanced so that investors won’t encounter any challenge.”

About the HACSA 2019 Summit

The 2019 HACSA summit which is themed ‘reunite and reconcile the affected communities and share examples of innovation and creative strategies to overcome that episode’s persisting negative effects’, examined the 400-year legacy of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade through which African were enslaved.

The summit also coincided with Ghana’s ‘Year of Return’ programme, which, symbolically, marks the 400th-anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in the US and invites the African diaspora back home.

Among the speakers this year are esteemed men and women, including the Vice-President of Liberia, Jewel Howard Taylor; Ghana’s First Lady, Rebecca Nana Akuffo-Addo; former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kuffuor, Vice-Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Prof. Arthur Mutambara; Impact Investor & Advisor in Africa; Dana Reed; CEO of Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne; DreamOval’s Senior Vice President, Charles Kollo; Mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre de Gaétan Njikam Mouliom; and Morgan Stanley MD, Lisa Opoku.