Tourism Society of Ghana re-launches tourism Clubs, Introduces “Liberty Card” for Members.

To encourage domestic travel, The Tourism Society of Ghana (TOSOGHA) has relaunched tourism clubs in educational institutions in collaboration with the Ghana Tourism Authority and the Ghana Education Service.

In addition to rolling out the third and fourth quarter and 2024 programs and activities, the relaunch, with the theme “Tourism Clubs: A Relevant Channel for Rethinking Domestic Tourism,” aims to revitalize the tourism clubs in the various educational institutions and expand their operations to the newly created regions.

The Society was founded in 2006 as a social humanitarian organization, according to Mr. Joseph Amartey, Executive Director of TOSOGHA. Its goal is to promote domestic tourism among youth and from the ground up through advocacy, social interventions, training, education, and consulting.

He said TOSOGHA was operational at three levels namely basic and secondary chapter, tertiary chapter and public or corporate chapter, adding that it also involved the formation of tourism clubs at each level where members were involved in diverse activities.

“Our immense contribution to the tourism industry in Ghana has been impactful and has not gone unrecognized. We are proud winners of two state awards from the namely; NGO Promotion of Domestic Tourism (2014) and Tourism Club of the Year (2016).”

According to Mr. Amartey, in 2008, TOSOGHA launched a National School Project with the goal of fostering domestic travel from the ground up. The project was carried out in collaboration with Ghana Education Service and involved the establishment of tourism clubs inside educational institutions.

“The tourism clubs were vibrant until the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic rendering majority of them inactive. However, observing the industry emerging steadily from the pandemic globally and locally, we feel the need to take advantage of this occurrence to rejuvenate the tourism clubs and expand our operations to the newly created regions and roll out our programmes,” he said.

He predicted a significant shift in domestic travel as a result of young people actively participating in the tourism industry.

“We take this opportunity to communicate our sturdy and constant dedication to promote domestic tourism with focus on the youth and support the continuous commitment of the President to use tourism as an instrument to transform the Ghanaian economy.

In an effort to revitalize tourism clubs in educational institutions, Mrs. Gifty Twum Ampofo, Deputy Minister of Education in charge of TVET, stated that it was critical to develop tourist destinations throughout the nation to increase their allure for students to visit.

“Let us try to put our tourist sites in good shape with good road networks, lots of locally made food, good infrastructure and the introduction of our rich culture, in order to encourage the children to know more about the country,” she said.

She said, “if children are enlightened about the importance of visiting tourist sites, they will always want to visit, adding that developing the habit of visiting sites is a form of relaxation and leisure to release some tension from school, work and family and it can generate revenue for the country.”

Mrs Ampofo urged industry players to open up their facilities for TVET students to be able to have their internships there to be able to have hands-on experience about the industry, as tourism and TVET were intertwined.

According to Mr. Ekow Sampson, Deputy Chief Executive Office in Charge of Operation, GTA, the goals and objectives of TOSOGHA aligned with the GTA's agenda to establish favorable conditions for the growth of domestic tourism, which in turn generates employment, income, and foreign exchange.

In addition to the tourist and attraction sites acting as a storehouse of knowledge, he praised the Society for resurrecting the initiative and stated that students would learn from each other's culture, history, and heritage, fostering national cohesion.

Mr. Sampson asked parents and other stakeholders to support the initiative, stating that the students' exposure to the various tourist sites would serve as a point of reference for future tourism promotion through word-of-mouth.

Members of the new governing board of TOSOGHA were later sworn into office. They include Mr Joseph Amartey, TOSOGHA, Mr Charles Buabin, GTA, Mr Ahmed Naaman, Dodi Travel and Tours, Madam Ester Apppau, Ghana Police Service, and Ms Hanna Asiedu, TOSOGHA.

Source: Dklassgh.com