1 month ago
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The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) at the weekend organised a consultative stakeholders meeting in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital to sensitise members of hoteliers association, tourism industry, staff of GSS and other actors in the industry to the upcoming Accommodation Unit Survey (AUS).
The meeting was meant to collect an essential baseline data to assess the supply and demand for commercial accommodation facilities in the country.
The stakeholders were drawn from the Upper East, Upper West, North East, Savannah and Northern Regions and they were hoteliers associations, staff of GSS, academia’s and actors in the tourism industry.
The Chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) for the Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA), Prof. Kwaku Boakye, said the accommodation unit survey was to boast the tourism industry data.
He stated that the commitment of the stakeholders was to enhance the activities within the hospitality sector across the country.
Prof. Boakye stated that these was also to go a long way to ensure the objectives of AUS to achieve and inform the policy of the interventions.
The Chairman of (NTAC), who is also the Vice Chancellor of Cape Coast Technical University, added that the potential of the tourism industry was significantly more to boost this country economy.
“It is obvious even to the untrained eye that the tourism sector has a very strong potential to become a major driver in this country economy “he stated.
He was of the view that the sector over the decade had faced years of neglect and a lack of credible data which had hindered effective policy-making.
The 3 survey, he mentioned, included the Domestic and Outbound Tourism Survey (DOTS), the Ghana International Travellers’ Survey (GITS), and the Tourism Supply Establishment Survey (TSES).
Prof. Boakye added that the efforts also meant to create a comprehensive understanding of tourism contribution to Ghana Gross Domestic Product by 2025.
He then called on the stakeholders to collaborate effectively with the Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana Tourism Authority, and various hotel associations to successfully implement the survey.
The 2024 AUS Coordinator, Dr Ebenezer Kojo Ocean, noted that the Al survey would utilise a nationally representative sample of commercial accommodation units from the Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES) list across all 16 regions in the country.
He further stated that the total of 9,602 accommodation units identified in the country, would sample 1,077 units including large medium mall-sized and micro-sized establishments.
The Coordinator added that 137 of these accommodation units would be sampled with certainty—specifically targeting large and medium-sized facilities—while the remaining units would be selected randomly.
The Acting Deputy Government Statistician, Mr Edward Asuo Afram, said the critical role of the stakeholders is to play and ensure the success of the AUS.
He, however, called for collaboration from hoteliers association, tourism industries other industry players as the GSS prepared to soon start data collection on November 1, 2024, adding that their support was very vital to their enumerators to effectively carry out their work successfully without any hindrance.
FROM YAHAYA NUHU NADAA,
TAMALE
