Ghana May Become Africa’s Next Big Tourist Destination.

Ghana has unveiled a 15-year tourism plan to increase the annual number of tourists in Ghana from 1 million to 8 million per year by 2027. By then, the Ghanaian travel industry is expected to mobilize $8.3 billion.

The expected tourism boom is expected 400 years after the first African slaves were taken from countries like Ghana to continental America. According to CNN, this was the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade route, after the arrival of the first recorded landing of a ship carrying Africans in Virginia in August 1619. Over the years, millions of people have been taken and transported on ships that have left Ghanaian ports, CNN reports.

Part of the expected growth in tourism will be linked to this historic event, as Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo has pointed out. In his Year of Return announcement, he highlighted Ghana’s tragic legacy as a reason for diaspora descendants to return and learn more about this chapter of history.

Ghana has encouraged returnees from the diaspora through legislation such as the Right of Residence Act 2000, which allows people of African descent to apply for the right to remain in the country indefinitely. Later, the Joseph project encouraged Africans in the diaspora to return.

In February, Cable News Network (CNN) reported that when some of the most famous faces of the African diaspora arrived for a recent holiday in Accra, Ghana, it was like a gathering of famous people. Actors like Idris Elba met model Naomi Campbell, sports presenter Mike Hill and author Luvvie Ajayi… Behind this meeting of box office stars, fashion kings and renowned designers lies a targeted and ambitious strategy to make Ghana a major tourist destination.

The country recently unveiled a 15-year tourism plan to increase Ghana’s annual number of tourists from one million to eight million per year by 2027. 8.3 billion dollars per year should be collected by the Ghanaian travel industry by 2027, plus the associated benefits, according to this plan.