Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi
One of the expectations of those in the Western Region was that the rich culture and tourism potential of the region would be showcased for the supporters of the four nations based in the metropolis to patronise.
But the twin-city of Sekondi/Takoradi failed to enjoy any of the interesting things that came with the hosting of the Ghana 2008.
It was sad that on the days that there were no football matches, the people only relaxed. Even television programmes telecast in the country were soap-operas that told the visitors about other people’s culture and nothing about where to visit and what to do when there were no matches.
In September last year, this reporter and journalists from other five African countries toured some states in the United States of America . On our first day in Washington DC and subsequent days in other states, everything about America and the city of Washington and other states were on their television networks.
Before the one in charge of Africa at the Foreign Press Centre visited us to brief us on the day’s schedule, the reporters were so anxious to visit places they saw on television networks in Washington.
The story was the same in Maryland, Philadelphia, New York and other places that we had the opportunity to squeeze time out of our busy schedule to visit.
That depicted the spirit of a country that wanted to stay ahead.
The Western Region of Ghana has many beautiful safe beaches and African touch beach resorts.
It also has the largest collection of European trading forts which were later used in the slave trade; the highest tropical jungles; numerous mines, picturesque villages and friendly people; old architectural styles and vivacious festivals and the home of kingpins in the country’s struggle for independence.
The story of the railway workers and their contribution towards independence, and the contributions of the chiefs and their traditional administrations before the introduction of politics were all left untold.
The visitors did not even visit the beautiful beach resorts we have in the metropolis because the service providers in the region thought they could make all the money at once and forgot their responsibility to help market the metropolis and the country as a whole.
Even though the hosting of the tournament in the metropolis was a success, what happened could be described as an opportunity lost or wasted.
Those in the hospitality industry were left to do their own thing as there was no price control mechanism to ensure that the visitors to the metropolis enjoyed their stay.
The international networks like CNN, BBC, VOA, Super Sports and other highly reputed networks featured Ghana daily. We were not even aware of how much it would have cost us to advertise Ghana on their network.
It is sad that most of the soccer fans who visited the twin-city came with their own form of entertainment, food and everything. It is not clear if those countries which participated in the tournament hosted by Ghana would have allowed soccer tourists to come with their own forms of entertainment and food and create their own village, sell their own food and decide what to do.
They would ensure that the visitor made a reservation, had health insurance, enough money to take care of him/her, and transportation among others and to ensure that they spent the money in their country.
We in Ghana, especially in the host communities, were not expecting people from the four nations to take any good memories with them when they came to sleep in mosquito infested classrooms and on tables.
We failed to repackage and sell the country as expected. The Ghana Tourist Board should have taken it upon itself to market the country if there are no tour organisers in the metropolis.
Time and opportunity like this take long to come and yet when we had the opportunity to market our country we blew it up.
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