Story: Michael Donkor
A Deputy Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, Mr Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, has spoken against sex tourism in the country, saying that it is a criminal offence.
He said any tourist found culpable of that offence would be dealt with according to the law.
Consequently, he has asked the public to report such acts to the police or the ministry for immediate action.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw gave the warning when he launched this year's Tourism Day celebration in Accra.
September 27 of every year has been set aside by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) to draw attention to tourism and its role in the socio-economic development of countries.
The theme for this year's celebration is: "Tourism: Responding to challenges of climate change".
This year's celebration would be held in Ho in the Volta Region.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw said the government's policy to promote tourism and make it the biggest foreign exchange earner of the country did not mean that the laws governing the sector should be taken for granted.
He said currently, tourism contributed $1.1 billion in foreign exchange earnings to the country.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw said it also contributed four per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP) and created about 22,000 direct formal employment in the country.
He said it was an undeniable fact that Ghana had emerged as a special African tourist destination, drawing people and visitors to experience not only its fascinating cultural diversity, history and natural endowment but also to understudy or enjoy its peace, stability, good governance and hospitality.
He explained that the theme for this year's celebration centred on climate change because tourism contributed between four to six per cent of total emissions world-wide.
He mentioned carbon dioxide emitted from transportation, especially aviation transport, accommodation, energy plants, catering services, tour operations and others as very critical.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw said as part of the preparation towards the celebration, the ministry had outlined a number of programmes aimed at mitigating challenges of climate change at the regional and national levels to commemorate the day.
He said a major national sensitisation seminar on the theme would be held as part of the programme while at the regional level, there would be similar seminars and tree planting exercises.
He said as part of the celebration, there would be a durbar of chiefs in Ho and the launch of a Green School Project.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw explained that the Green School Project was an initiative by the 2008 UNWTO Day Celebration planning committee to encourage schools in member countries to adopt the practice of greening their environments.
He said the initiative would allow participating schools to plant trees around their environments.
He said these would be monitored by inspectors throughout the year and the best school would be given prizes.
Mr Osei-Ameyaw said the project would be a one-year pilot programme for schools in the Volta Region and would need sponsors.
He, therefore, called for interested sponsors to contact the ministry in that respect.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment