The Scenes of Yesteryears (SOY) Museum was on Monday inaugurated at Gomoa Potsin in the Gomoa East District of the Central Region with a call on Ghanaians to invest in the tourism sector in order to promote economic growth.
The SOY Museum is a private facility established to help promote and preserve the Ghanaian cultural heritage.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SOY Museum, Dr Akua Owusuaa Amartey, said the opportunities in the tourism sector had not been fully explored and invested.
The museum has in it sculptures designed and arranged to tell the story of how Ghanaians lived their daily lives in the past, from sunrise to sunset, as well as the history of the slave trade.
“When it comes to tourism, I see it as a virgin area. We have not touched anything, and there is room for anyone who wants to invest in it. When we
talk about tourism, we are not only talking about just building hotels and hosting people, but it goes beyond that,” Dr Amartey explained.
However, she lamented about the difficulties individuals who wanted to invest in the sector go through as recounted some projects such as private museum projects that had stalled due to lack of funds and support from the government.
“If you take out the forts and castles that we have doted along the coast and some few waterfalls, we don’t have much to talk about when it comes to site attractions. I know we have a few private museums, of which some of them have stalled. This tells you how difficult it is to establish things in Ghana,” Dr (Mrs) Amartey stated.
She, therefore, urged the government through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Creative Arts and the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) to support individuals who were ready to invest in the sector.
Dr Amartey, who is also a retiring staff of the Food and Drug Authority (FDA), also indicated that the establishment of the SOY museum would help create job opportunities for the people at the Gomoa Potsin community, especially the youth, as many would be employed as tour guides, security personnel, and cleaners.
She expressed gratitude to the traditional leaders of the community for providing her with the land to establish the museum, as well as family and friends who had supported her.
Dr Amartey thanked the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for providing her with relevant documents to review in order to gain ideas for the establishment of the museum and Adansi Travel and Tour, for its willingness to partner with SOY museum in its operations.
FROM BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY, GOMOA
