Ghanaians have been recognized as Africa’s warmest and finest people, which makes the country a preferred tourism destination, but policy bottlenecks are “killing” this huge potential. This is the observation of a U.S.-based Finance Professor at Purdue University Northwest, Prof. Pat Obi.
The finance professor, who is a regular in Ghana as a visiting professor in the leading universities in the country, says the country’s tourism sector holds immense promise to become a leading economic pillar, but self-imposed barriers are undermining its full potential.
Speaking passionately on the subject in an interview with The High Street Journal, Prof. Obi described Ghanaians as “the best Africans I’ve ever seen in my life,” citing their warmth, hospitality, and authenticity as unmatched on the continent.
“I’ve been to 75 countries,” he said, adding that “In terms of how warmly people are, you can’t beat Ghanaians. People are the best export product of a nation.”
This endowment of Ghana, he says, is the best condition to drive tourism, but the country has not been able to fully capitalize on that due to excessive restrictions for travelers.
Tourism as an Export Commodity
Professor Obi urged Ghana to formalize tourism as a core export product, emphasizing that the true economic gold mine lies not only in mineral resources but in cultural and human capital.
“Ghana should be a major tourism hub. These Europeans and Americans are looking for places to go for warmth and to mingle with people. If we create a vibrant, strong tourism industry, they’ll be flocking to Ghana,” he said.
He narrated a research he has conducted on Ghana’s tourism titled “Tourism: the Untapped Gold Mine in the Gold Coast,” which concluded that the sector can be the most reliable source of export for the country if properly formalized.
Although he recognized that Ghana has made relative progress in positioning itself as a tourism destination in West Africa, Prof. Obi believes the bar is too low considering the potential.
Visa Restrictions: A Major Policy Bottleneck
At the heart of his critique is Ghana’s stringent visa policy, which he says sends the wrong message to high-value travelers and investors.
He cannot fathom why people with money and resources coming to spend in Ghana must go through a serious hustle to obtain a visa.
Sharing his experience on these stringent visa requirements, he narrated that “I spend at least $5,000 on each visit to Ghana, and I still have to go through the trouble of getting a visa,” he lamented.
“It doesn’t work that way. You have to open your doors to people who will come in and spend money,” he stressed.
Sharing lessons from the tourism relationships between America and countries like Mexico, South Africa, and North African nations, Prof. Obi indicated that Americans can easily enter any of these countries since they are high-value travellers who bring in a lot of revenue.
“Mexicans find it more difficult to get a US visa than Ghanaians. Yet I can pick up right now and go to Mexico, which is South of the US. I can pick up right now and go to South Africa, go to Morocco, go to all the countries in North Africa. I don’t need a visa. But to Ghana, they close the door to something that can bring them a lot of money,” he lamented.
Moving Beyond Exchange Rate Dependency
Professor Obi warned that Ghana must rethink its over-reliance on exchange rate-sensitive sectors and instead build sustainable economic value through domestic industries such as tourism.
He believes one area that requires priority is a tourism-focused diversification strategy would offer long-term revenue stability and boost foreign exchange earnings. This, he says, will reduce Ghana’s vulnerability to global commodity shocks and the vagaries of the exchange rate.
“I must warn that we need to move away from becoming an exchange rate-driven economy and think of those aspects of the domestic economy that can make Ghana economically independent, regardless of what the exchange rate is,” he cautioned.
Although a number of initiatives have been launched to boost tourism by successive governments, Prof. Obi says that without a drastic policy change in the sector, the country will continue to live below its tourism potential.
