Search Result

The aim of the study was to investigate the Impact of Ghanaian Festivals on Tourism Development. Tourism is a fiercely competitive business and for Ghana to become and remain competitive, she will need to manage her stock of natural, historical, and cultural resources wisely. Although Ghana possesses a diverse variety of potential attractions including festivals, the key to success of these festivals in attracting tourists is their proper development and management. It is against this backdrop that the study sought to assess why Ghana has not been able to brand herself as tourism destination with her festivals, and to determine how Ghana can brand herself as tourism destination with these festivals. In order to achieve the research objectives, the study adopted qualitative research strategy together with documents as data collection instruments. The findings of the study revealed some basic reasons that made it difficult for Ghana to brand herself as tourism destination with her numerous festivals. These include constraints such as education/awareness creation, security, promotion, political instability, weak institutions, negative image and infrastructure. It also revealed ways Ghana can brand herself with these festivals. These included the establishment of clear vision, cooperative promotion efforts, increasing foreign exchange, addressing the manpower issue, improving on the transportation situation in the country, ensuring political stability and effective tourism planning, communication across wide range of stakeholders, addressing the issue of accommodation, international media coverage and support of international organizations. It is interesting to note that the research findings provided a useful insight into the Impact of Ghanaian Festivals on Tourism Development. These findings could help Ghana particularly and Africa generally to be able to overcome problems regarding how best the numerous festivals could be used to serve as catalyst to maximize tourists’ visitation.