The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Catherine Ablema Afeku has promised to enforce a Legislative Instrument (LI) to regulate and ensure safety measures at tourist sites to avert disasters.
According to her, the tourist sites will mostly be managed by the private sector when the LI is put in place.
Her comments follows a ghastly accident at the Kintampo Water fall in the Brong Ahafo Region on Sunday, March 19, which claimed 18 lives after a huge tree fell on some swimmers at the water fall.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, Madam Afeku said her outfit will start working on the LI immediately to prevent any such occurrences.
“Immediately it is culminating that there needs to be an LI that we can regulate. The management and safety measures in tourist sites especially the ones that are being managed or co-managed by the assemblies, we want as many as we can, to go in the hands of the private sector because they are better positioned to handle some of these tourism sites and also it calls for a safety audit across the length and breadth of all tourist sites.”
She further said, “because if there was a check list and there were communities within the meteorological service, our people would have known that there was a storm and it could have been prevented.”
She further adds that the LI will cut across all tourist sites.
“Policy directives will be informed as a result of this tragedy and it shouldn’t just be for Kintampo, it should be across the nation but it takes stake holder engagement it is not a unilateral decision.”
Meanwhile the Director of Travel Services at Host Destination Services, Arnold Van Mortagbe says the local travel agencies must look at insuring tourists to secure them of any dangers associated with tourism.
“Frankly speaking, the insurance mechanism and schemes that exist are mostly geared towards outbound travels; from Ghana. I believe that that insurance for domestic tourism could be looked at. I mean not to wish any ill but it is good to stand prepared so yes I think local insurance schemes are worth looking at.”
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
