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MPs agree tourism needs a bigger
budget
Keta (V/R), July 8, GNA - Members of the Parliamentary
Select Committee of Trade and Tourism On Sunday ended a
three-day working tour to the VoltaRegion expressing
conviction that there was the needto approve a bigger budget
for the tourism industry.
Mrs Alice Boon, Member of Parliament for Lambussie and
Deputy Ranking of the Committee, said:
"We need to vote a bigger amount to tourism development
because when developed the tourism industry can be the
biggest income earner."
She urged the District Assemblies to take up the challenge
of developing tourists sites in their areas and noted that
as a country we were not doing much towards the development
of tourism.
Mrs. Boon who also commented on the packaging and marketing
of tourism products said there was the need for Ghanaians to
appreciate tourism and its potentials.
She described the tour as an enlightenment and commended the
Ghana Tourists Board for the efforts towards the development
of tourism despite the low budget involved.
Mr. Martin Mireku, Acting Executive Director of the Ghana
Tourists Board, said the tour was organized to introduce the
law makers to what Ghana had to offer
in terms of tourism.
He said the members of the committee handles tourism issues
in parliament and so there was the need to let them know
what existed.
"The parliamentary select Committee on trade and tourism
looks at the tourism budget before it gets tothe floor of
Parliament," he explained.
Mr Mireku noted that without government's support tourism
development in the country will be a problem since we need
money for promotion of tourism products.
He said the tourism industry was such that products needed
to be well packaged and marketed to get the needed revenue.
He however, said the Tourists Board lacked the resources to
enable it to package and market the products as expected.
GNA
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