Title: Tourism development: national policies and tourism priorities in Ghana

Authors: Alexander Preko

Addresses: Department of Marketing, University of Professional Studies, Accra, P.O. Box LG 149 Legon, Accra, Ghana

Abstract: This paper provides an understanding of Ghana government's commitment to tourism, by utilising the contextual search analysis of the Coordinated Program of Economic and Social Development Policies from 2000 to 2024. The findings revealed that the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (2014-2017) had a detailed prioritisation in these areas: creation of cultural villages, promotion of music and festival tourism, job creations, skills training and development, promotion of youth entrepreneurship and infrastructure. The GSGDA (2010-2013) examined cyber-attack in tourism, the role of municipal and district assemblies in ecotourism development and infrastructure. Finally, an Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All (2017-2014) covered innovation in tourism, the use of Meeting, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibition to transform the industry and create more jobs in the sector. This study extends existing tourism development literature by introducing the importance of government commitment in promoting tourism through state policies.

Keywords: tourism development; tourism planning; national policy; Ghana; tourism priorities; government priorities; cyber-attack; infrastructure; innovation; youth entrepreneurship.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2020.112644

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2020 Vol.10 No.4, pp.380 - 391

Received: 06 May 2020
Accepted: 01 Dec 2020

Published online: 25 Jan 2021 *

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