Ghana’s 2024 National Tourism Performance Report has come under criticism for failing to provide comprehensive and actionable data necessary to guide policy, attract investment, and promote sustainable sector growth.
According to Mr. Emmanuel Frimpong, Founding President of the Africa Tourism Research Network, the report launched by the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) under the theme “Growth and Stability” presents an incomplete picture of Ghana’s tourism landscape.
In an interview, Mr. Frimpong said that while the report highlights national visitor arrivals and key attractions, it lacks the depth and specificity required to inform real decision-making. “It is overly generalised and fails to capture the sector’s true performance,” he said.
Missing Regional and Job Data
One of the report’s most glaring omissions, according to Mr. Frimpong, is the absence of a regional breakdown of tourism data. “We cannot achieve inclusive tourism if we do not measure what is happening outside Accra and Cape Coast,” he said. “Regions such as the North, Savannah, Upper East, and Upper West are often overlooked, and without data, they remain under-promoted and underinvested.”
He also criticised the report for failing to provide employment statistics. Despite tourism’s well-known potential as a major job creator, the report did not capture the number of jobs generated, nor the demographics of those employed, including youth and women.
“Without labour data, we cannot assess the social and economic contributions of the sector,” Mr. Frimpong said, adding that international organisations such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) rely on such information to channel support.
Sustainability, Visitor Experience, and Investment Overlooked
The report also failed to include visitor satisfaction metrics, such as feedback on service quality, infrastructure, safety, and affordability, essential indicators for enhancing Ghana’s reputation as a tourist destination.
“We need to go beyond simply counting visitors. Understanding their experience is key to improving our services and maintaining competitiveness,” Mr. Frimpong emphasised.
Despite promoting ecotourism, the report neglected to provide data on the environmental impacts of tourism, including the climate resilience of tourism sites and adherence to sustainability standards. “We cannot just talk about sustainability. We have to measure it, otherwise, it becomes a meaningless slogan,” he warned.
Air Travel, Investment, and Economic Context Ignored
Affordability and accessibility of air travel, a known barrier for many tourists was also not assessed in the report. Mr. Frimpong pointed out the absence of data on flight costs, regional connectivity, and border challenges that influence Ghana’s competitiveness within the West African tourism market.
The report also failed to mention investment data, leaving out both public and private sector funding, new projects, and challenges such as land access or regulatory bottlenecks that investors face. “Transparent investment data builds investor confidence and helps shape meaningful reforms,” he said.
Furthermore, Mr. Frimpong noted that the report did not address the global economic trends impacting tourism, such as inflation, currency volatility, and recession fears, nor did it evaluate how such factors are shaping domestic and international travel patterns.
Regulatory Gaps and Future Recommendations
He expressed concern that although the report briefly mentioned efforts to regulate digital hospitality platforms like Airbnb, it did not include data on compliance rates or enforcement actions taken, making the regulatory claims ineffective.
To improve future tourism reporting, Mr. Frimpong recommended the inclusion of regional tourism statistics and disaggregated sectoral data, labour market figures, including informal sector job, visitor satisfaction and service quality surveys and environmental sustainability tracking.
He also urged the GTA to start collecting and reporting data on niche tourism areas such as Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE), medical tourism, sports tourism, and outbound travel trends.
“Ghana has tremendous tourism potential, but to unlock it, we must adopt a data-driven approach,” Mr. Frimpong said.
