ECOTOURISM PROMOTION IN GHANA

Ecotourism promotion is a specialized area of marketing dealing with the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry. Promoting ecotourism involves educating the public about what it means to travel the world in a sustainable way, about competing with companies that make exaggerated claims about eco-friendliness, and about offering a big enough array of destinations to appeal to a larger portion of the population.

However, the concept of ecotourism promotion has become widespread in recent times, and is being talked about by the government of Ghana as well as private individuals and tourism companies aimed at selling Ghana to the rest of the world.www.ghanaecotours.getafricaonline.com Some people refer to ecotourism as ecologically sound tourism whilst others associate it with nature tourism and educating tourists about nature. It is both of these facts in the definition of ecotourism that must go a step further to be a force for sustaining natural resources (Ministry of Tourism, 1995)

In Ghana, the government further believes that ecotourism must also provide benefits for local communities and provide them with environmental awareness, jobs, incom

e and must involve the local communities living near the protected areas (where most of the ecotourism attractions are located) and make certain that they participate in and receive benefits from ecotourism development else local people will not support ecotourism activities. Stakeholders in the tourism industry must also realize that natural areas are fragile and must therefore be preserved. Private tourism enterprises must adopt a responsible approach and ensure that development of tourist’s attraction and visitors do not degrade the natural features.

Developing ecotourism as a source of revenue for protected areas is especially important. Unlike the situation in many African Countries such as Rwanda and Kenya, the national parks and reserve in Ghana are grossly under-funded, and under staffed. Consequently, they cannot properly carry out the conservation and development that are needed. Ecotourism can provide the means to achieve adequate conservation as a well as bring benefits to communities located near the parks. The concept of ecotourism, as set forth by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), fits well into the objectives of developing tourism in Ghana and therefore, stakeholders and other policy makers must not forget these objectives. Ecotourism development and promotion in Ghana should be ecologically sound and not degrade rural areas; ecotourism should be used as a means to achieve conservation objectives; and tourism should bring benefits to local communities and not only the urban areas.