Tourism Sector To Employ 300,000

The Eastern Regional Director for the National Commission for Women and Development [NCWD], Madam Jane Kwapong, has observed that the neglect of women is the neglect of the entire human race. She has, therefore, called for the education of women to acquire professional skills to enable them create wealth by themselves. Madam Jane Kwapong made the observation at a workshop organised by the Ghana Tourist Board [GTB] Eastern Region branch for women in tourism business at Koforidua. It was under the theme: “Tourism opens doors for women”. She noted that although some women were into business, the majority were deprived and were without shelter, education and were mostly seen on the streets, doing practically nothing. In his welcome address, the Eastern Regional Manager of [GTB], Mr. Sampson Donkoh, noted that tourism, which was not recognised sometime back, had become the fourth largest foreign exchange earner after minerals and foreign remittances. According to him, it was projected that tourism would become the number one foreign exchange earner with U.S $1.5billion in earnings by the end of the year. This, he noted, meant that tourism held the key to improving the country’s economy in the near future. He said the sector had been projected to employ about 300,000 workers by the close of the year. “This will make tourism the largest employer in the formal sector, with women accounting for 60% of the employees. Chronicle