INVITATION TO INAUGURAL LECTURE
You are cordially invited to an Inaugural Lecture to be delivered by Professor Alex B. Asiedu of the Department of Geography and Resource Development and Principal of the University of Ghana Accra City Campus.
Topic: Not Just Visiting – Towards Leveraging Tourism for Enhanced National Development in Ghana
Date: Thursday, December 4, 2014
Time: 5:00pm
Venue: Great Hall
Chairman: Professor Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor
ABSTRACT
Tourism has become an effective tool for pursuing modernization, economic development and prosperity and also has become an effective tool for advancing wider international integration through globalization.
The significance of the industry has been well recognised, especially in developing countries, and this is seen in the establishment of government ministries and departments responsible for tourism, the opening up of small, medium and multi-national companies contributing to and benefiting from the industry. There is also increased community participation and involvement in the industry. Following the implementation of Economic Recovery and Structural Adjustment programmes since the mid-1980s, Ghana has pursued policies towards export diversification and the promotion of international tourism has become a priority area for national development. As a result, plans and programmes have been initiated towards the realization of this development objective.
However, as a multi-faceted activity and geographically complex one, different services and facilities are sought and supplied at different stages from the origin to the destination. In the process, several physical, socio-cultural and economic impacts are experienced. Governments and the other stakeholders in tourism encourage types of developments that result in many of the “blessings” of tourism whiles limiting the associated “blights”.
The main thrust of this lecture is to provide an initial understanding of the nexus between tourism and development to provide the basis for exploring how tourism has impacted on the development of the Ghanaian space economy. Measures to enhance the future role of industry in the development of the country are then proposed.
