Tourist arrivals to Ghana to expand 47% this year after 65.4% contraction in 2020
Research arm of credit rating agency, Fitch Solutions, has projected a 47 percentage points expansion in tourist arrivals to Ghana this year due to the ongoing inoculation of the citizenry and the easing of restrictions for inbound tourists.
According to the agency, the growth follows a 65.4 percentage points contraction recorded in the sector last year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fitch Solutions in a review paper focused on some areas of the Ghanaian economy – consumer spending, tourism and inflation – noted it expects tourist arrivals to Ghana to remain positive going into 2022 and expanding by 28.4 percentage points year-on-year (y-o-y).
“Ghana’s tourism sector has been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and related travel restrictions. In 2021, we forecast tourist arrivals to grow by 47.0% y-o-y. However, this growth is from a low base following an estimated 65.4% y-o-y contraction in tourist arrivals in 2020. We believe that the rollout of vaccines and the easing of restrictions for inbound tourists is key for the recovery of the country’s tourism sector. We project the growth in tourist arrivals to remain positive in 2022, expanding by 28.4% y-o-y,” said Fitch.
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“The positive growth in tourist arrivals in 2021 and 2022 bodes well for hospitality businesses such as restaurants and hotels and recreation and culture establishments. This will improve the wage and employment prospects of people employed in this sector,” Fitch added.
The country’s tourism sector was one of the hardest-hit sectors of the economy by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to government, the sector has lost about 75 percent of its resources and not less than Ghs 8 million in revenue.
In view of the adverse impact of the pandemic on the operations of the tourism industry players, the government last year provided fiscal support and also rolled-out a number of initiatives such as the 30 percent rebate on taxes of sector players among others all aimed at preserving the sector and speeding its recovery from the pandemic.
Recently, government allotted some Ghs 55 million in grants to support various players in the tourism sector.
The said amount, government noted is to help businesses and the sector in general bounce back from the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
