Government says it is working to roll out the Electronic Visa platform from the first quarter of next year.
The move is part of a broader initiative by the government to deal with challenges facing tourists and investors in their quest to travel to Ghana.
The Chief Executive of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyeman, disclosed this on PM Express: Business Edition with host George Wiafe on November 23, 2023.
[embedded content]“The Foreign Affairs Ministry has been working on this and even at a point in time, it announced for vendors to apply, demonstrating the significant progress that has been made on this initiative,” the Ghana Tourism Authority boss announced.
The CEO noted that Ghana is competing with other countries in the region when it comes to investors and tourist visits, therefore everything must be done to help position Ghana as the preferred investment destination in the region as well as tourist arrivals.
This is also part of a broader programme to improve tourism in the country it calls “Easing the Diaspora Pathway” to reduce the challenges people go through when they want to visit Ghana.
Visa-On-Arrival Initiative
Persons who want to travel to Ghana may have to be issued a visa before an airline will allow the passenger to fly to Accra.
However, due to the implementation of the Visa-On-Arrival initiative by the government from December 1 to January 15, 2024, the airlines are now required to allow passengers who opt for this option to fly to Accra without insisting on the prior visa issued by the Government of Ghana.
The GTA CEO maintained that this is just the first step, and the government is also working on a “Free Visa Initiative” for persons traveling to Ghana.
“We know that December is our peak period for tourist arrivals and we need to make it easier for people to travel to Ghana,” the Chief Executive of the GTA.
He was however quick to add that, visitors will still have to pay at the Airport for the visa that will be issued by Immigration Officials.
“These fees for now are needed to deal with the associated cost of processing the visa for travellers and we believe the system has to pay for itself” the Tourism Authority Chief Executive added.
The Chief Executive of the Ghana Tourism Authority added that we are ensuring that the system pay for itself, so we don’t end up falling on the consolidated fund, for supporting some of the initiatives in the sector.
Airlines Directed to comply with this directive
Mr. Agyeman disclosed that the Transport Ministry has engaged the various Airlines about this Visa- On-Arrival and they are expected to comply, by allowing these passengers to travel to Ghana without a Visa issued by the Government of Ghana before they are allowed to fly to Accra.
“We have also followed up with several engagements, with these airlines to ensure this Visa-On-Arrival by the Government of Ghana is captured in their systems,” Mr Agyeman added.
The CEO noted that after this measure, “we don’t want people to be embarrassed at the airport when flying to Ghana” he added.
Mr. Agyeman maintained that government is committed to putting measures in place to aid investments and tourism in the country.
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