The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), in collaboration with the Ghana Tourism Federation (GATO) and key stakeholders, on Friday launched a National Professional Training and Certification Programme and an Uplifting Women in Tourism (UWIT) initiative to strengthen the sector and create jobs.
The programmes, held on the theme “Stronger Together for Tourism and Hospitality Growth,” are aimed at improving professionalism, expanding employment opportunities, supporting women-led tourism enterprises, and increasing the sector’s contribution to the economy through coordinated partnerships.
The Chief Executive Officer of the GTA, Maame Efua Houadjeto, said the initiatives formed part of a broader strategy to move the sector from potential to action through targeted interventions and partnerships.
She announced the introduction of the Graduate Tourism Employment and Mobility (GTEM) Programme, which seeks to train and certify 200 graduates as professional tour guides and deploy them across the tourism value chain.
According to her, the programme will also address mobility challenges by providing participants with access to vehicles under a structured work-and-pay model to support service delivery.
“This is how we move from unemployment to enterprise. It is not just about training, but about linking opportunity directly to productivity,” she said.
She added that the initiative would be extended to small tourism businesses and operators facing logistical constraints, while also supporting the adoption of clean energy solutions such as solar and biogas to improve efficiency and reduce operational costs.
The President of GATO, Seth Ocran, said the launch fulfilled a key promise he made when he assumed office in January 2026 to transform the federation through practical systems.
He explained that the National Professional Training and Certification Policy Framework would be implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment, the Special Task Force on Health and Safety, the Hotel, Catering and Tourism Training Institute (HOTCAT), and other partners.
He noted that the programme had been designed to make certification accessible through flexible payment options, a training access fund, and a blended learning model tailored for frontline workers.
Mr Ocran said tourism currently contributes about 5.7 per cent to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), expressing confidence that coordinated interventions could increase the figure to 10 per cent by 2030.
On the UWIT Programme, he said it would address longstanding barriers faced by women in the sector, particularly access to finance, digital tools, and reliable energy.
“These women have never lacked talent, resilience, or ambition, but what they have lacked is opportunity and support,” he stated.
The event also saw the swearing-in of nine functional committees of GATO to drive its activities in areas including advocacy, finance, legal affairs, research, marketing, and tourism safety.
BY STEPHANIE BIRIKORANG
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