The Ghana Tourism Development Company (GTDC) has outlined a new wave of tourism interventions set for rollout in 2026, building on the digital transformation projects it introduced earlier this year, including the Ghana Tourism Marketplace and the Ghana Tourism Investment Platform.
At a press briefing in Accra, CEO, Prof. Kobby Mensah, said the company’s 2025 digitalisation agenda has already begun to reshape efficiency within the sector. He noted that the next stage of reforms will focus on improving event coordination, festival management and domestic tourism data capture.
National Tourism Events Calendar to launch in 2026
Prof. Mensah announced that GTDC is finalising a National Tourism Events Calendar, a digital platform designed to collate every major tourism activity across the country throughout the year.
“In the coming next year, we intend to roll out what we call the National Tourism Events Calendar. It’s a digital calendar,” he said. “Wherever you are, you’re plugged into the Ghana Tourism Marketplace and then say, I’m a vendor, I’m organising a festival on this date, at this venue, at this time.”
He explained that event organisers will undergo digital verification—including Ghana Card checks and company registration validation—before their events are published.
Once live, the platform will allow users to browse the entire national events schedule from January to December and sync events directly into personal calendars.
Prof. Mensah added that the system will feature an intelligent recommendation engine. “Immediately, the bot can suggest to you the hotels in Anomabo, the interesting places you have to visit. We are aiming at a comprehensive tourism experience.”
He confirmed the project is nearing completion and will be unveiled publicly ahead of its 2026 launch.
New Festival Management Protocol Training
GTDC also announced plans to introduce a Festival Management Protocol Training programme in 2026 to address inefficiencies in the planning and commercialisation of traditional festivals.
Prof. Mensah recounted an experience at a festival where poor planning caused long delays. “We were in the car for almost two hours… because of the way we do not coordinate and plan properly. We’re not optimizing the commercialization.”
He said traditional councils and district assemblies will receive structured training in transport management, security planning, waste management and operational flow.
The curriculum on the training, developed in partnership with UN Tourism and led by Deputy CEO – Finance and Administration, Naomi Borley Alabi, is ready for deployment next year.
Enhancing domestic tourism data
The GTDC boss stressed the need for Ghana to adopt modern systems for measuring domestic tourism.
“Our domestic tourism numbers are not quite comprehensive,” he said. “We’re counting those going to Boti Falls. What about those going to Hogbetsotso or Akwasidae Festival? We’re not counting them.”
He added that large entertainment events—such as major concerts—must also be captured because they form part of the country’s tourism economy.
GTDC is developing digital capabilities to automatically count and quantify attendance at festivals and mass gatherings in order to generate realistic domestic tourism data.
Drive for investments in 2026
Prof. Mensah also announced that 2026 will focus heavily on tourism investment mobilisation, complementing the Ghana Tourism Investment Platform (GTIP) launched earlier in 2025.
A presentation on the GTIP by Naomi Borley Alabi, highlighted a portfolio of investment-ready tourism projects currently profiled on the platform. These projects span an impressive range of attractions—ecological, cultural, religious, sporting and recreational—located across the Northern, Central, Volta and Greater Accra regions.
“Next year is our investment drive,” Prof. Mensah hinted. “We’re going to host investment breakfast sessions, investment conferences… If you know some rich people with some lazy money sitting somewhere, please direct them to our path.”
He reaffirmed GTDC’s mission to improve tourism management and efficiency. “We’re here to stay. We’re here to make sure that tourism in this country is properly managed and properly looked after.”
With the 2025 innovations already in operation and a new suite of initiatives planned for 2026, GTDC says it is positioning itself as a driving force in modernising Ghana’s tourism ecosystem.
Profile briefs on the investment projects can be accessed at http://investintourism.org
