Ghana cleaning it’s beaches to attract visitors

The decision by the management of Zoom Lion to set up a subsidiary company called Zoil Ghana Limited with the main objective of keeping Ghana’s coastlines clean is a laudable plan that must be support

The decision by the management of Zoom Lion to set up a subsidiary company called Zoil Ghana Limited with the main objective of keeping Ghana’s coastlines clean is a laudable plan that must be supported by stakeholders.

The project is expected to employ about 10,000 Ghanaians, especially those living in the western, central, greater Accra, and Volta regions, who will be engaged in the cleaning and monitoring of Ghana’s beaches. The project was duly launched last week at Esiama and Ellembelle in the western region.

A trip through the coastlines starting from Chorkor, La, Teshie, Keta, and back to Anomabo, Mankessim, Cape Coast, and Elmina, etc. will reveal how unfriendly and negligent Ghana has been to its beaches.

It is common to see adults of both sexes openly defecating hand in hand at beaches, while women and children in particular have made it a daily chore of dumping refuse at the beaches without any sense of shame.

Thus, while countries like Senegal and Gambia with less slave monuments are attracting more tourists, Ghana is only deluding herself as a preferred destination in Africa.

By UNWTO statistics, Ghana’s visitor numbers continue to grow, but the growth is not up to the country’s full potential. This could be attributed to the fact that Ghana remains a high-cost destination and the cost of doing business in Ghana remains high. Besides, the beaches are simply too dirty.

Tourism, like other areas Ghana has competitive advantage in but has failed to develop, is a huge revenue source that is waiting to be tapped. But why will any tourist come to Ghana when it cannot meet one of the essential catalysts -environmental cleanliness.

Zoom Lion is ahead with plans to export its waste management concept to neighboring countries and has put in a bid to take up waste management at the Angola 2010 CAF tournament.

While other Ghanaian companies have failed to expand beyond Accra, Zoom Lion is perhaps, the only company that is making efforts to expand to other African countries. It must, thereofre, be given every support by the government and other decision makers to ensure a successful launch into Africa.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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