Information

In the face of the growing importance of tourism to Ghana’s economic and social development, one headache that remains frustrating to the customer is the un-availability of destination-specific information.  But imagine this: an office where you can book a visit to selected tourist attractions, pay for entrance and related fees in advance of your trip. On arrival all you do is enjoy a well planned guided tour and come back home safe, un-harassed, and happy.

This may sound too good to be true but it is the reality courtesy, the GREET Project which was launched by the Minister of Tourism in Accra early this month. The Ghana Rural Ecotourism and Travel Office (GREET) is the first step towards creating a top-class tourism information and marketing office.

In several respects, GREET is positioned as a unique distribution channel in Ghana. With an office located off the Oxford street, Osu (Lizzan….House) and website (www.ghanaecotourism.org) the project is poised to revolutionise Ghana’s tourism sector and make its attractions accessible to a wider range of domestic and international tourists.

GREET serves the information, planning and purchase needs of individual and group tourists as well as tour operators. The project involves a co-ordinated communication, booking and advance payment systems covering all rural tourism destinations.  To the many who have harboured the desire to visit an attraction but do not know when to go, how to get there and how much it would cost, this brings some relief.
Currently what pertains, is that tourism sites are mostly visited by domestic tourists who know the country-side well, or adventurous travellers who prepare to arrange their own tour itineraries. They frequently arrive in rural communities unannounced, hoping to find a community guide to take them on tour.
 Foreign tourists are the worse off. First, they have to fly all the way to Ghana before they really know the ecotourism options available. Then they also have to risk carrying large amounts of cash on them as trekking from one tourist destination to another.

What GREET does is maintain and monitor the standards of a list of recommended ecotourism attractions across Ghana. When you contact them with an intention to visit they help you pre-plan and pre-book your visit with your special needs and interest in mind.
Because the GREET centre is in constant touch with the attractions they have all the information you ever want to know. In deed, they contact the site in advance and let the attendants prepare for your coming.

At present, the GREET facility covers the following destinations: Amedzofe, Liati Wote, Tafi Atome, Wli Waterfall and Kyabobo National Park, (Volta Region); Tongo Rocks/Tengzug Shrine and Sirigu, (Upper East); Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary (Upper West) and  Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, (Brong Ahafo).

The rest are: Adanwomase craft village, (Ashanti Region); Nzulezu and Ankasa National Park (Western Region) Mole National Park and Daboya (Northern Region) Kakum National Park, (Central Region) and Shai Hills, (Greater Accra).

This list is not cast in stone. In fact, should an ecotoursm site fall in standard it will be taken off. Same way other ecotourism attractions who meet the mark can apply and be registered with GREET. Ultimately and based on performance the attractions will be grouped in categories namely, silver, gold and platinum.

When tourism is spoken of as a poverty alleviator nowhere is that more true than in the rural setting. But if the rural tourism sector is to make progress it must increase not only product quality but also the levels of customer information. However, poor internal communications have hampered Ghana’s rural tourism sector making it difficult for tourists to pre-plan, pre-book or pre-pay for visits to rural sites. To make matters worse, few private tour operators include the small community-based rural destinations in their packages.

Tourism combines opportunities for community participation in sustainable and profitable enterprise with the protection of precious cultural and natural resources. The global tourism market is highly competitive and sophisticated because of its potential to generate large foreign currency earnings. The most successful international tourism destinations utilise the latest in marketing, technology and information systems to attract tourists and provide them with unsurpassed levels of quality information and customer support.

If Ghana intends to carve out a niche in this huge global tourism market we must match the levels of customer service and tourism information that tourists expect. An increased focus on marketing, information and customer services is critical for the expansion of Ghana’s rural ecotourism sector. GREET aims at raising the profile and appeal of Ghana’s rural ecotourism destinations in the international market place.

It must be noted that greet did not spring out of a vacuum The Community-Based Ecotourism Project (CBEP) has worked since 1996 towards developing environmentally and culturally sensitive locations as tourism destinations in rural Ghana. The project has been a collaborative effort between the Nature Conservation Research Centre (NCRC), Ghana Tourist Board (GTB), United States Peace Corps – Ghana, the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV-Ghana), and the project communities with major funding support from USAID.

Phase I of this project contributed to improvements in facilities, improved marketing, and
increased human resource capacity to manage the sites. These activities have been guided by the overall goal of increasing revenue and visitor numbers at the destinations.
The second phase of the Community Based Ecotourism Project (CBEP II) has developed
additional 14 community based ecotourism sites and working with 6 Wildlife Division sites on “ecotourism experiences” for Ghana by developing globally competitive products through training and assisting with sustainable conservation of natural resources.

CBEP II incorporated market development strategies by focusing ecotourism development on different experiences – mangrove, forest, traditional crafts, historical attractions, mountain biketrails and endemic species. This represents a shift from site-specific approaches and ensured that sustainable natural resource conservation efforts and community-based resource management were applied on an area scale.

The purpose of the GREET initiative has been to create opportunities for rural communities to earn income and create tourism-related jobs through the conservation of local ecosystems and culture. For a communication challenged nation that is poised to meet the international market The GREET model can have far reaching consequences even beyond tourism.