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ThisWeekGhana.com becomes the D-O-T
before the dot com
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Commentary Page
We invite commentaries from writers all over. The subject is about
Ghana and the world. We reserve the right to accept or reject
submissions, but we are not necessarily responsible for the opinions
expressed in articles we publish......MORE
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Ghana’s Tourism Industry under Threat!
Tourism according to Mathieson and Wall (1982:1) refers to “the
temporary movement to destinations outside the normal home and
workplace, the activities under taken during the stay and the
activities created to cater for the needs of the tourists.” It
comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in
places outside their usual environment for not more than one
consecutive year for leisure, business or other purposes (WTO,
1999). In 2010, receipts from the Tourism industry amounted to
over 1.6 billion dollars placing it as the fourth largest
foreign exchange earner to the country. It contributed over 6
percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2009. However if
serious attention is not given to the planning, development,
principles and ethics in the industry, the hen that lays the
golden eggs faces serious threat!
It is an undeniable fact that the movement, the stay and the
facilities which are created to meet the needs of tourists have
some environmental consequences for the tourist destination. On
the other hand, the quality of tourists’ experience depends to a
large extent on the environment in which tourism takes place.
Both the natural environment, including land, water, plants and
animals and the man-made environment, which includes
superstructure and infrastructure, form the basis of the tourism
industry. Thus tourism thrives in an attractive environment.
It is against this background that CODGHA is appalled at the
wanton destruction and pollution along our coasts, especially in
Bortianor, Tsokome and Labadi. An investigation by CODGHA to
ascertain the environmental impacts of coastal resorts in the
country, has confirmed widespread destruction of the coastal
ecosystem. Some of the issues identified bordered on littering,
discharge of sewage directly into the sea, and the Densu
Estuary, defecation at certain portions of the coastline and
dumping of waste in close proximity to the sea.
It was discovered that some of the hotels discharged their
sewage either directly into the sea or the Densu Estuary. For
instance, some resorts in Tsokome and Bortianor had their bath
rooms located right at the bank of the estuary where tourists
could wash down after bathing in the sea. This could have
serious implication for aquatic life in the estuary. Also, some
of the locals tend to defecated at certain portions along the
coast and some communities had their refuse dumps in close
proximity to the sea especially in the Bortianor community.
There were instances where refuse produced by some hotels had
been kept there for weeks suggesting that some hotels did not
constantly clean their surroundings’ on a daily basis. The only
high rise buildings in the communities were found out to be
coastal resorts, suggesting that, the design of hotel buildings
are different in terms of style, shape and architecture thereby
constituting architectural pollution.
Our Recommendation:
Since the locals themselves have some negative impacts on the
environment, there is the need for environmental awareness
creation to sensitize the locals on the health and economic
implications of poor sanitation. There is also the need for
government to pay serious attention to the sanitation conditions
of the country as current world ranking in respect to sanitary
conditions is likely to have some negative implications for our
tourism industry.
The environmental protection agencies should strengthen and
empower inspection teams in order to ensure that, coastal
resorts adhere strictly to the environmental laws of the country
as some of the hotels were operating without environmental
permits.
Last but not least, there should be collaboration among the
stakeholders in the community towards environmental improvement
and sanitation. For example, the hotels could collaborate with
other stakeholders such as youth associations and District
Assemblies to periodically clean the beaches and also serve as
watch dogs which would put off some locals from defecating at
certain portions of the beach.
To this end, we are calling on the Ghana Tourism Authority,
Environmental Protection Agency and relevant District Assemblies
to collaborate with the appropriate stakeholders in finding a
lasting solution to the appalling filth and pollution that has
engulfed our beaches, as it is having serious negative impacts
on the Tourism Industry.
Signed:
Dr. Ishmael Mensah (Director of Research and Editorial
Policy)
Agyei Kwame Williams (Executive Director)
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Ghana’s Cedi May Extend West
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Bloomberg, May 06, Ghanadot - Ghana’s cedi, West
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greater demand for imports, according to the country’s
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AfricaOnLine, May 06, Ghanadot -
The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum says
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as a result of a power generating company not running
because of lack of natural gas from the West African Gas
Pipeline Project. It states that the load shedding would
end by the first week of May.....More
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Free-market foes would withhold
growth tactics from poor nations
WashTimes, May 07, Ghanadot - Now, the
extraordinary economic progress of the developing world,
and of Africa in particular, is under threat because the
intellectual consensus in favor of markets is wavering
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Tsatsu's problems as I see it
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Facts: he does not have any facts. His client (NDC) has not
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