By Bajin D. Pobia
Wa, Feb. 17, GNA – The Upper West Regional Offices of the Ministry of Tourism has launched the National Chocolate Week Celebration in Wa to help promote the local consumption of Ghanaian chocolate locally and internationally.
The celebration would also help domestic tourism, enhance social cohesion and networking and create jobs, especially among the youth in the region.
The National Chocolate Week, which is Ghana’s version of the “Valentine Day” is on the theme: “Eat Chocolate, Stay Healthy, and Grow Ghana” and it marks the 18th edition in the series.
As part of the celebration, chocolate and its products, brochures and flyers with detailed information on tourism attraction sites in the region, were provided to the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council, the Waala Traditional Council, government workers at the Ministerial Blocks and passengers on-board arriving from Accra-Wa “Passion Air” flight.
Mr Moses Ndewin Ndebugri, the Upper West Regional Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority, said the objective of the Week was to boost the domestic consumption of Ghana chocolate and other cocoa-based products, highlight the health benefits of chocolate and other cocoa based products and promote domestic tourism.
He said Ghana Cocoa was premium compared to other cocoa in the world and had the highest value in the world market and still valued highly on global commodity market due to its unmatched high quality.
“All renowned and distinguished manufacturers of chocolate and beverages still favour the superior quality cocoa as their primary ingredient, which Ghana’s cocoa is noted for,” he said.
Mr Ndebugri said medical practitioners had indicated that the consumption of cocoa products would help lower blood pressure, increase blood flow in brain function, reduces Inflammation and prevents tooth decay and urged people to increase their consumption rate to improve on health conditions.
He encouraged the people in the communities, especially government workers, to patronise tourists’ attraction sites in the region to help generate revenue for the district assemblies and enhance jobs creation for the youth and individual developers.
Mr Ndebugri said the region would benefit enormously from the locally produced garment, and Arts and Crafts, as well as the hotelier industries if the people in the communities shifted their attention to tourism and its activities.
GNA