Operationalising the President’s SONA from the perspectives of tourism

By Prof. Kobby MENSAH

The State of the Nation Address by President John Dramani Mahama articulates a reformist national vision anchored on economic stability, productive transformation, and institutional restoration.

Framed through the Resetting Ghana Agenda, as domestic renewal philosophy, and the Accra Reset, which is Africa’s global repositioning, the vision prioritises rebuilding public trust, strengthening institutions, and delivering measurable socio-economic outcomes.

Growth is defined as productive, inclusive, and resilient, achieved through disciplined macroeconomic management and sector-led implementation.

National objectives

The President identifies four interlinked objectives to realise his vision:

1. Macroeconomic stability to break recurrent fiscal crises and external vulnerability.
2. Productive economic transformation through sector-led value-chain expansion, linkages, and job creation.
3. Food sovereignty and Agricultural renewal as the fastest route to jobs, price stability, and industrialisation.
4. Institutional effectiveness and value for money to rebuild public confidence in governance.

These objectives are operationalised through flagship programmes such as the 24-Hour Economy, the Feed Ghana Programme, agro-industrial value-chain integration, and supporting fiscal and accountability reforms. For tourism, objectives two and four are paramount, and underpin our reset.

Tourism within the Reset Agenda – Vision, objectives, and delivery instruments

In the President’s address, Tourism is positioned as a culture and creativity-led economic growth sector, aligned with the national reset agenda. The President affirms Ghana’s existing appeal as rooted in history, culture, arts, music, fashion, and food, while advancing a forward-looking ambition to position Ghana as a regional hub for high-value business, creative, and niche tourism.

This vision is to be achieved through objectives such as reduced entry barriers and improved visitor experience through faster, simpler, and more open visa regimes. It also highlights as an objective, the need to develop business, events, and creative tourism by positioning Ghana as West Africa’s leading hub for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions (MICE), and Creative Events, targeting high-spending, year-round demand.

Developing and deepening niche tourism markets was also mentioned as an objective, with emphasis on Medical Tourism, where the nation would leverage specialised healthcare services to attract regional patients as well as creative, night-time, youth, and heritage tourism to expand tourism consumption beyond daytime and seasonal limits while deepening cultural values.

Key policies, programmes, and the place of GTDC’s innovations

1. Infrastructure and MICE development

The President announced the refurbishment of the Accra International Conference Centre; a planned construction of a new Convention and Creative Events Centre to be driven by a public private partnership arrangement, and the renovation of the State Banquet Hall.

2. Accessibility – Travel and visa facilitation

A five-day visa processing across Ghana’s foreign missions was announced; a development of a national electronic visa (e-Visa) platform and a visa waiver agreement with 11 countries.

3. Strategic promotion and political advocacy

The President announced a personal commitment to serve as an international ambassador for tourism and the creative sector, signaling elevated political prioritisation and global visibility, as a key objective.

GTDC digital infrastructure Innovations

It is instrumental to note the strategic position of GTDCs innovations within the broader state of the nation’s address. In addition to the many initiatives mentioned in the President’s address to achieve the objectives, GTDC’s innovation platforms are firmly aligned. They are positioned to translate the government’s policy intent into market-ready systems. For example,

The Ghana Tourism Marketplace (GTM) is a business to consumer (B2C) experiential infrastructure that aggregates tourism products, drives demand, supports SMEs, and strengthens data-driven destination marketing.

Secondly, the Ghana Tourism Investment Platform (GTiP) is an investment facilitation digital infrastructure that structures, packages, and promotes bankable tourism projects to attract domestic and foreign investment, aligning tourism growth with capital mobilisation.

The digital Ghana Tourism Events Calendar (GTC) is a national scheduling and promotion tool that consolidates festivals, conferences, cultural, and creative events to improve planning, extend visitor stay, and support the MICE and creative economy.

In terms of niche tourism, as expressed by the President as key to tourism objectives, GTDCs Accra By Night Tour service is located. The Accra by Night is a night-time economy programme that activates culture, food, music, and entertainment after dark, directly complementing the 24-Hour Economy policy and expanding tourism spend cycles.

And finally, the opening of the GTDC tourism office on the campuses of our universities positions educational tourism as tourism niche, supporting academic conferences, international students, youth travel, and knowledge-based tourism.

In totality, tourism in the President’s address is decisively action-oriented and implementation-led, with strong alignment between national vision, sector objectives, and delivery mechanisms.

Through GTDC’s digital infrastructure in tourism investment and experiential programmes, tourism is operationalised as a productive, data-driven, and inclusive economic sector, with long term emphasis on sustainability, spatial inclusion, community benefit, youth engagement, and cultural preservation. Tourism is therefore firmly embedded in the President’s broader economic reset.

>>>the writer is CEO of the Ghana Tourism Development Company (GTDC)

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