Men in Business and Tourism (MBT) a Non-Governmental Organisation with the aim of improving business, developing and promoting tourism in Ghana has been launched.
MBT also seeks to bring men together to harness the investment opportunities in the tourism sector to create decent and new additional jobs for them. The launch event took place yesterday October 6, at the UDS Guest House in Accra which saw in attendance, stakeholders from the tourism and hospitality sectors, traditional rulers, heads of government tourism agencies and the media.
President of MBT, Bernard Adum disclosed that the organization is enthusiastic about increasing exposure among men to improve businesses, strengthen “our gradually dying cultural heritages, promote Ghana as a tourist destination and present Ghana as an attractive and secure tourism market for international visitors.”
To this end, Adum posited that, “We want to assure you all that, we will strive to maximise tourism potentials for reducing hardship by developing appropriate sustainable tourism strategies in cooperation with all stakeholders.”
Chairman for the occasion and Sanaahene of Akyem Tafo, Okatakyie Nana Anim I in his address, admonished the founders and executives of MBT to remain resolute in their objectives for the organistaion. “You need to have a focus because if you don’t have one, you can’t survive in this tourism industry.”
He also urged them to spread the goals of MBT to attract and increase membership, stressing, “let’s go out there and be crusaders and sell the ideas of this organization.”
CEO of Ghana Tourism Development Company, Kwadwo Antwi welcomed the idea of harnessing the strengths of men to push tourism. “Although there are more women in tourism, there is a certain tilt of resources in the hands of men which gives them a lot of responsibilities in the sector,” he stated.
He added that tourism is such a huge industry that organisations such as MBT are always welcome to increase the stakeholder base. Kwadwo Antwi averred, “The tourism ecosystem is huge and so we need more people, and the more people we can have on board to add to our stock of knowledge, infrastructure, the better.”
CEO of the Ghana Tourism Authority who was represented by Corporate Affairs Director, Jones Aruna Nelson expressed hopes that the aims and objectives of MBT will be tailored clearly towards the development of sustainable tourism.
“The aims and objectives of Men in Business Tourism dovetail into the agenda of the Ghana Tourism Authority in creating the enabling environment for businesses and projects to strive in order to create jobs and employment for the populace, increase the foreign exchange earnings from tourism, etc.” he maintained.
Among other areas of MBT’s interest are: training and capacity building, cultural exchange programmes, advocacy, boot camps and tourism promotion and marketing at travel shows, among others.
