Destination Africa Project

The fundamental idea here is to encourage and motivate Africans to spend their tourism dollars visiting and exploring African destinations in general starting with Ghanaian destinations in particular. The Destination Africa Project spearheaded by Steve Ababio is born from the recognition of the fact that tourism is a global growth area that is currently one of the least developed in West Africa in

particular. A well-developed tourism sector has the potential to provide employment and financial empowerment for people from the highest to the lowest levels of society in any given community. The fundamental idea here is to encourage and motivate Africans to spend their tourism dollars visiting and exploring African destinations in general and Ghanaian destinations in particular. We believe that by doing so they will identify and invest in related businesses that will bring development and growth to rural areas that would otherwise remain deprived. The first reason is that not enough attention has been put into making most existing locations tourism-friendly: poor state of maintenance, insufficient well trained tour guides who understand they play a marketing role, lack of accommodation, places to eat, ancillary activities, publications, souvenirs and keepsakes, gift items that will encourage others to also visit the location.

2. The second reason is that very little effort and expertise is put into high quality marketing and presentation of most locations; this is a problem particularly in West Africa. The visuals for any given location present quite dismal competition for say Disney World, or the Bahamas. We seem content to accept what few tourists mistakenly find their way to our locations and the paltry access fees they pay. Much of the situation might be a result of the assumption that tourism is something foreigners do, and their numbers do not seem to be enough to make putting in extra effort worthwhile. The governmental bodies in charge of the tourism sector have also over the last few years been of little help in terms of creating and aggressively implementing policy initiatives to grow the sector and make it a vibrant and active source income and employment for the multitudes it could potentially support. We at Destination Africa are not looking to solve all the problems of the sector in one fell swoop. Our objective is to radically upgrade the visual narrative and presentation of our existing locations, both popular and barely known. We will do this through creative and imaginative world-class photography and videography, presenting the locations as the backdrop for a couple spending time together, enjoying each other and interacting with their environment. The Destination Africa Project is an initiative of Business Destinations Ltd.