Home Business The Problems facing the Tourism Sector in Ghana

The Problems facing the Tourism Sector in Ghana

by The Ghana HIT

Despite the positive impact of the tourism sector in the country, the industry faces some challenges that can result in its downfalls when not addressed. The sector’s key challenges include travel marketing, taxation, infrastructure, security, and border protocols. Some tourist sites are not fully prepared to receive tourists, and therefore tourists end up not satisfied by visiting such sites. Additionally, the tourism industry faces fluctuating charges and high price charges.

Covid-19 Pandemic

Covid-19 Pandemic is a global pandemic that has affected most sectors; the tourism sector has incurred so many losses so far. The sector is a key source of income to Ghana, and due to the many regulations to limit the cases of tourists are no longer going on vacation like they used to before the pandemic. This has resulted in to drop in revenue since the pandemic hit the country. Poor risk management in the travel industry and travel of diseases with tourists to cross borders is still affecting the tourism sector. Although the Ghanaian government has put several measures to ensure that tourists remain safe during their vacation, the industry seems to be recovering at a slow pace.

The Cost of Vacation and Inflation

The tourism industry is non-permanent, and therefore there is no assurance revenue income throughout the year; this interferes with the entire business setup. The Fluctuations in currency exchange rates is one of the key challenges facing the tourism industry in Ghana. Besides, the tourism support systems are also affected by the outcome of monetary unpredictability—the failure to know the value of currency results in difficulty in predicting long-term tourisms prices.

Inflation is increasing at a very high rate; hotels, bars and restaurants are forced to increase the prices.
The transport sector is not left out; the airline industry particularly has been significantly affected by the fluctuating charges. The airline has been forced to increase its prices and cut some services because it relies on other industries, such as the fuel industry. This demotivates tourists from travelling or going on for expensive holidays, negatively affecting the tourism sector.

High taxation

The tourism industry is among the highly taxed industries in Ghana. The significant taxes in this sector include service tax, luxury tax, transportation tax, and aviation fuel tax. Some taxes are charged in various departments of the industry such as the transport sector, tour operators, airline industry, hotels. The taxes differ across different parts of the country; high tariffs are imposed on businesses in big towns such as Accra compared to other businesses in remote areas.

Regulatory and Border Problems

Visa Procedures is regulatory, which seems to be a burden to many tourists. Sometimes, processing a visa to visit Ghana might not be an easy process; this may discourage many tourists from going for a vacation. Besides, several projects under the tourism sectors are deferred because of delayed license approvals in time. The government should focus on creating good infrastructures, offering fast clearances, and coming up with favourable policies to regulate the tourism industry; this will boost the confidence of foreign tourists.

Seasonality of the Hospitality Industry

Peak seasons in the tourism industry bring lots of revenues and obtain many businesses. The off-peak has no business, and therefore the sector ends up making losses.

Risk and Security of Tourists

Most travellers consider the Security of a country before choosing their holiday destination, and safety is always a key consideration. Security has remained a major challenge to the growth and development of the tourism sectors for many years. Despite Ghana having a stable democracy, it has not yet achieved full security, political tension, terrorist attacks, inappropriate law and order are still affecting the views of many foreign tourists. In spite of the economic growth, tourism is exposed to natural and artificial crises, unforeseen events that lower tourists’ courage to travel to Ghana. Additionally, Tourism is affected by natural disasters such as pandemics, tsunami, earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, among others.

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