Yuletide expectations not met – Ghana Tourism Federation
The Ghana Tourism Federation has expressed that the yuletide season has been a difficult one for its members saying their expectations were not met.
Cancellation of flights to Dubai by Emirates Airlines as a result of the surge in covid-19 cases and restriction in beach activities deprived its members adequate returns on their activities.
Speaking in an interview, the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Tourism Federation, Emmanuel Frimpong said, “The situation during the Christmas was not the best as we expected, if you look at most of the things that we planned, the activities that we planned during the Christmas, even before the Christmas and after the Christmas.
“Quite a number of events were cancelled due to the restrictions that was introduced at the airport and then the one that we also had from Dubai where flights from Accra was banned and the one that we had in Kigali, Rwanda, so most of the people that booked to come to Ghana could not make it because of these new restrictions.
“And then those who wanted to travel outside of the country to especially Dubai and other places because of the new restrictions, they could also not travel. So our expectations were not met. But we are still hopeful that probably between now and the end of January something will happen for us”.
Read This: PSRL: Suspension of levy on petroleum products extended for one more month
Tourism industry suffers from Emirate flight suspension
Tourism industry professionals have lamented over the huge losses incurred as a result of the decision of Emirates Airline to indefinitely suspend flights from Accra to Dubai.
This is because some travel and tour companies in the country have asserted that some of their customers have already made arrangements to travel to Dubai.
For instance, Managing Director of Adansi Travels and Tours, Gideon Asare, says some of his clients had already made hotel bookings and paid for Covid-19 testing.
“The effect, I can’t even describe it. It’s so huge that most of our customers are worried and confused and don’t know what to do. And this is a lot of investment that they have kicked into their travel,” he said.
“Besides that, we have another 90 people who are also scheduled to travel on the 5th and 6th, they all have their tickets paid for, their hotels paid for and the sad aspect is even those who spend money to do Covid testing on Sunday hoping to fly on Monday and their Covid test is wasted,” he added.
According to sources, the ban on the flights is due to the rising number of positive Covid-19 cases recorded on outbound flights arriving in Dubai from Accra
