$20 million national studio in the offing – Tourism Minister-designate

Dr Mohammed Awal, the Minister-designate for Tourism, Arts and Culture, says if given the nod, he will establish a $20 million ultramodern national film, music and creative arts studio to build the capacity of Ghanaians to produce series of movies and music with quality local content.

That would make the country the hub of film and music production industry in the West African sub-region to promote the Ghanaian cultural heritage.

Currently, he said, consultation on the project was ongoing and intended to secure between 10 and 30 acres of land outside Accra for that purpose.

Dr Mohammed Awal, who made the disclosure during his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament, on Thursday, said the project would be a public-private partnership funding.

The Minister-designate said under his tenure, he would ensure that a minimum of one million local tourists visited the many tourist sites dotted across the country.

He said that with several local indigenes uninterested in local tourism due to the high costs of travelling and accommodation, he would thus, work together with all stakeholders involved to ensure that they gave discounts to local tourists.

“Domestic tourism is very important for Ghana. Mr. Chairman, when given the nod, we intend to package internal tourism to attract a minimum of one million visitations, in terms of local tourism. What we need to do is to make a package with the hotel owners, transporters, airline operators and food vendors.

“We also want to ensure that school children, we catch them young, to be encouraged to travel around the country. That we hope will create many jobs for our people,” he said.

Dr Awal said Ghana generated $3 billion during the ‘Year of Return’, with 3.1 million foreign tourists visiting the nation.

Additionally, 96,000 jobs were created during the first term of the Akufo-Addo-led government.

Source: GNA