The Chief Operations Officer of Plugin Media, Francis Doku, has recounted the ordeal he went through accessing Cape Three Points in the Western Region of Ghana a few months ago.
Speaking during a discussion on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z, he noted that being the lowest point in Ghana and for that matter West Africa, the tourism potential of Cape Three Points cannot be overemphasized.
“I think that is a place we want to draw a lot of people to, to go and see as one of the places people who travel to Ghana to go and look at the tip of Ghana into the ocean, will go to,” he told the host Kwame Dadzie.
He said that in December 2023, he tried to drive to Cape Three Points but it took him two hours of driving on bare ground.
“It’s is the most terrible road I have ever driven on. I was praying that at some point, I would hit asphalt but for about two hours driving, dust and I was just lucky that it didn’t rain because then you get stuck in,” Francis stated.
He also narrated his host told him about how the poor state of the road prevented people from visiting the place.
“When I got there the gentleman who was supposed to be the caretaker of us mentioned that people are not visiting there again because of the terrible road. So it is only a few people who stay in a resort around that area just walk and come and visit the place because nobody is doing tours to that place,” he indicated.
Highlighting the tourism potential of Cape Three Points, he said the place when given a facelift, can be a major site of tourist attraction in Ghana.
“I am just saying that there things that we need to look at if we are going to be a tourism destination where tourism becomes number of foreign exchange earner then we need to be deliberate in fixing to take us there.
So many of those places, tourism attractions in the markets in this destination have terrible access, whether road or anything that leads there. Some of them I think the GTA has done well to improve, like Kintampo and some other places. But there are so many that the GTA needs to work with the other ministries and other areas like forestry like monuments board, and others to be able to fix to make sure that we put ourselves out there to become the destination that we want to be. For now, I think that we are a bit laid back,” he said.
The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, has said that the government is dedicated to ensuring that the country becomes the leading tourism destination in West Africa.
The ministry seeks to have two million arrivals of tourists by 2026, thereby creating 150,000 jobs every year.
According to Mr. Doku these targets will be illusive if some of the basic challenges like poor road network are not addressed.
Francis Doku, is an astute arts and tourism writer, and a media executive. He is the host of Africa Rising, a podcast of insightful conversations on Africa’s travel and tourism.
Source: JoyOnline