Tuk-Tuk expedition highlights Ghana’s untapped tourism potential
The Founder of the PUH Foundation, Princess Umul Hatiyya Ibrahim Mahama, has completed a 6,814-kilometre expedition across all 16 regions of the country in a tuk-tuk, popularly known as “Pragya”, to showcase Ghana’s tourism potential and raise support for special schools.
The 60-day journey, which eventually lasted 90 days, took her to more than 30 tourist attractions, four national parks and hundreds of towns and villages. She also crossed three of Ghana’s international borders.
Speaking in Accra last Friday at the Grand Homecoming of the expedition, Ms Mahama said the journey was aimed at promoting domestic tourism while raising funds for the Savelugu and Ashanti Schools for the Deaf.
She said the campaign sought to raise GH¢ two million to improve infrastructure and provide learning materials and equipment for the two institutions.
She stressed that the initiative was intended to create opportunities for children with hearing and visual impairments rather than treat them as beneficiaries of charity.
Ms Mahama said despite concerns about her age and health, as well as the challenges of travelling during the rainy season, she remained determined to complete the expedition.
Having visited 90 countries across five continents, she described Ghana as a “paradise” with enormous tourism potential, but said the country needed to invest consistently in the sector to compete with leading African destinations such as Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia.
She said Ghana’s rich cultural heritage, diverse landscapes, forests, rivers, coastline and historical sites positioned the country to become one of Africa’s top three tourist destinations if the necessary investments were made.
Ms Mahama, however, identified poor sanitation, environmental degradation, illegal mining, weak maintenance culture, inadequate tourism infrastructure and road accidents as major obstacles to the growth of the tourism sector.
She also called on educational authorities to strengthen the teaching of Ghanaian history, saying many untold stories of resistance, innovation and resilience demonstrated that the country’s ancestors were not passive victims but courageous leaders and problem-solvers.
Ms Mahama appealed to individuals and organisations to support the fundraising campaign for the schools through donations or partnerships, saying every contribution would help unlock the potential of children with hearing impairment.
For her part, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Development Company (GTDC), Felicity Nelson, said the expedition had helped expose lesser-known tourist destinations and encouraged more people to explore the country.
She said the initiative had broadened the horizons of many Ghanaians by showcasing tourist sites and communities that were often overlooked.
According to her, the expedition had also demonstrated that many of the country’s tourist attractions were accessible, even with modest means of transport such as a tuk-tuk.
BY PRINCE ADDO FRIMPONG
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