Make tourism, handicrafts more attractive

Back page May 21/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

VICE-President Aliu Mahama has opened the second United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) regional seminar on tourism and handicraft in Accra with a call for measures to make tourism and handicrafts in Africa more attractive to compete on the global market.
“Our success in attracting high spending and middle-income tourists can guarantee patronage of our rich and diverse natural historical and cultural heritage including the patronage of our handicrafts by them,” he added.
That, the Vice-President said, would help create the needed jobs and improve incomes for local communities including the vulnerable groups such as women and the disabled.
The workshop is being attended by more than 100 participants from all over the continent of Africa including Nigeria, Niger, South Africa, Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo.
Participants in the first workshop in Burkina Faso in 2006 agreed that further development of the synergy between handicraft and tourism be pursued as it had the potential to bring major socio-economic benefits to Africa, bind communities together, foster the continuity of local traditions and contribute towards the reduction of poverty.
It was against this background that the Accra workshop is to, among others, continue to examine the partnership between tourism and handicrafts, within the broad framework of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Alhaji Mahama said global trends including soaring fuel and food prices were threatening the economic survival of many nations of which Africa was no exception.
“This trend of affairs would lead to worsening balance of payments, trade deficits, famine and unemployment in most developing countries and, therefore, calls for a concerted effort to put in place appropriate measures to address these challenges,” he cautioned.
The Vice-President said it could not be disputed that with the advent of international tourism and its growth over the years the handicraft industry had not only been rejuvenated but had also become a major source of livelihood for the local people and many communities across the world.
“If the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) statistics indicate that in 2007 international tourists arrival globally grew by six per cent to 900 million, the onus then lies with African countries to formulate pragmatic polices, plans and programmes necessary to help them reap a fair share of this lucrative huge but emerging market,” he said.
Alhaji Mahama said Ghana and many other African countries had the richest, oldest and most diverse handicraft traditions in the world.
In drawing linkages between tourism and handicrafts, the Vice-President said: “Skills have been passed on from one generation to the other in the making of artefact such as gold, jewellery, pottery/ceremics, wood carvings, Kente, basketry, leather works, adinkra, beads and smock making for the patronage of tourists.”
He urged delegates to actively participate in the forum by enriching the needed inputs for the realisation of the desired outcome of the workshop.
Mrs Oboshie Sai Cofie, Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, said: ”Handicraft has been part of our culture and I believe we can develop this industry to improve the lives of our people.”
He expressed the hope that during the deliberations, participants would strive to create the necessary policy environment and areas of interoperability and synergy by these sectors to ensure a sustained contribution to poverty reduction in Africa.
Mr Ousmane Ndiaye, UNWTO Regional Representative for Africa, said the organisation was convinced that together, tourism and handicrafts could serve to establish dialogue among peoples and nations of this society that were becoming globalised, and that the synergy of these two sectors could make a strong contribution to poverty reduction and sustainable development.