OBOSHIE ADVISES TOURISM PRACTITIONERS (PAGE 23)

THE Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, Mrs Oboshie Sai Cofie, has urged practitioners and the government, who usually rely on tourism for jobs and for revenue, to take into account the potential impact of climate change in planning new tourism resorts or upgrading existing facilities.
She said all institutions must endeavour to take preventive actions to mitigate environmental impact contributing to climate change within the framework of poverty reduction strategies and other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
This was contained in a speech read on her behalf by the Chief Director of the ministry, Mrs Bridget Katsriku, at the opening of a sensitisation seminar at Ho to mark World Tourism Day which falls on Saturday.
It was on the theme: “Tourism: Responding to the Challenges of Climate Change”.
Mrs Cofie said while the impact of climate change on tourism would vary, it was already clear that small island states that served as tourism destinations would become vulnerable to rise in sea level.
She also stated that more frequent periods of extreme heat would cause discomfort in many resorts while sea erosion of coastal areas, reduction of forests through wild fires and excessive flooding were recipes for a decline in tourism.
The minister said several world heritage sites that were important tourist sites such as forts had become victims of high tidal waves induced by climate change.
She, therefore, stressed the need for national and local governments, corporate organisations, churches and international organisations, practitioners in the tourism industry and the media, to join in the crusade by developing and implementing strategies to face changing climatic conditions.
“Action must be taken now. The tourism industry itself must take action to reduce its contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions,” Mrs Cofie declared.
She called on tourism practitioners to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions derived from transport and accommodation activities and should change from fossil fuel to renewable sources of energy.
The minister also suggested that the tourism industry should incorporate public transport and cycling infrastructure in resort plans as well as alternative low impact vehicle technology, recycling and conservation of water resources and to undertake aforestation programmes.
In an address read on his behalf, the Volta Regional Minister, Mr Kofi Dzamesi, called on all stakeholders in the industry to redouble efforts to contain the keen competition in the industry in order to promote Ghana as a preferred destination with novel experiences and to significantly expand the overall role of tourism in the national economy.
He said the seminar should unfold meaningful insights into the theme and to equip participants with the requisite knowledge to promote sustainable tourism, mindful of the global environment and climate.
In a presentation, the Volta Regional Programme Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Togbe Akliku Ahorney II, said the challenges of climate change to tourism included coastal erosion, extinction of some plants and animal species and heat waves.
He added that revenue from tourism was likely to dwindle as a result of those trends, which might cause reduction in the patronage of tourism activities.
In another paper, a senior lecturer at the Department of Geography and Tourism of the University of Cape Coast, Dr F.E. Amuquandoh, said the nation must be able to adapt to climate changes by building coastal defences, relocation of some tourism-related facilities, setting new priorities as a destination, water conservation, harvesting and recycling.
He called for mitigation efforts in the energy sector, restaurant sector, car rentals, airlines and accommodation by fashioning out strategies that would permit the use of efficient facilities.