The Overlord of Dagbong Ya-Naa Abukari II has appealed to the Minister for Tourism, and Culture and Creative Arts, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal to help revive the various tourist sites in the Dagbon Kingdom.
Some of such sites are the Babatu, Naa Dataa Tua, Adibo, among others he noted needed a facelift to attract tourists from all over the world to Dagban.
The Ya-Naa made this appeal on Monday, March 29, 2021 when the Minister paid a courtesy call on him at the Gbewa Palace in Yendi.
In a statement read on behalf of the Overlord, the P.R.O, Musah Yakubu said, the tourist sites when revived will create more jobs for the youth in the Region to curb the unemployment situation among the youth in Dagbon.
He further stated that it will also promote the cultural heritage and elevate Dagbon to the status it well deserved and asked the Minister to collaborate with all Chiefs in Dagbon for accelerated development.
Addressing the media, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal assured the Overlord and the people of Dagbon that his office is going to collaborate with the chiefs to make sure that all sites are revived to create attraction for people within and outside the country.
He revealed that the government intends to make tourism a number one foreign exchange earner which has the potential of generating five billion dollars ($5billion) every year to Ghana’s GDP.
“Tourism everywhere is a major revenue earner for the country. In Ghana unfortunately, tourism is about number four contributor to GDP. Our plan as a government is to make tourism number tourism number one contributor to Ghana’s GDP. We want to do about five billion dollars every year from tourism, making it the highest in terms of GDP,” Dr. Awal affirmed.
The Minister emphasized that this can only be achieved if the various tourist sites are improved upon but was quick to add that those potential tourist sites would have to be identified first by collaborating with the Chiefs and the Northern Regional Coordinating Council.
Dr. Awal said his Ministry will put a scheme together to ensure that one million Ghanaians move around various tourist sites in the country which intends to promote national unity, improve local economy and make domestic tourism the best in the country.
The Minister made a passionate appeal to the media to help expose the entire tourist sites in the region and country at large.