By Nii Martey M. Botchway
Accra, May 05, GNA – The Ghana Tourism Development Project (GTDP), has supported four technical universities with equipment and lower – level tourism and hospitality skills training.
The equipment, valued at GHS900,000 were presented to the Tourism and Hospitality departments of the Accra, Cape Coast, Kumasi and Tamale Technical Universities to facilitate the training of their students and boost tourism development in the country.
Speaking at a ceremony to hand over the items to officials of the four technical universities, Prof Gabriel Eshun, Technical Advisor at the GTDP, said the equipment was financed by the World Bank.
He explained that the GTDP as part of measures to improve tourism and revenue generation from the tourism sector had included training of industry players who would provide top notch services.
He said, Ghana stood a comparative advantage in terms of tourism offerings, hence the need for modern equipment for the training of students who would take up spaces in the industry.
Prof Eshun added that, Ghana had the potential for tourism to become the number one contributor to Gross Domestic Product, hence the need to ensure that the right approach and interventions are put in place.
“The idea is to strengthen the Tourism, Arts and Culture landscape to compete favourably with all the other generating income sectors of the economy,” he said.
Receiving the items on behalf of the beneficiaries, Prof Amevi Acakpovi, Pro Vice-Chancellor at Accra Technical Univeristy, said the equipment would help in the training of the students to meet modern demands.
He explained that the intervention from the GTDP came as a relief to the university because it was financially handicapped to procure most of the modern equipment.
He said the university would ensure that the longevity of the equipment.
Prof Acakpovi expressed appreciation to the GTDP and the World Bank for the gesture, and called for more support from other donor agencies and partners.
The items included industrial food processor, electric food mixer, electric rice steamers, ovens, gas cookers, gas cylinders, cake mixer, commercial blenders, microwave, kitchen and cook ware, chest freezers and refrigerators.
Others are, washing machine, air conditioners, ceiling fans, desktop and laptop computers with accessories, office machines, ceiling mount projector, office furniture, double Beds and mattresses.
GNA