Ghana’s economy has received a total of $1.9 billion boost from their year of return campaign, which was marked at the end of 2019. The Year of Return simply means the mark of 400 years since the first enslaved Africans were taken from Ghana.
To commemorate this, the country organized several programs, activities, and special ceremonies in the country, which saw handfuls of diaspora residents flock the country for the special occurrence. Graphic Online reports that their total number stood at 750,000.
Some of the activities that have contributed to this figure include air travel, hotel accommodation, transport fares, as well as entertainment events.
Speaking at a ceremony at Anomabo to inaugurate a tourist centre, Ghana’s Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs. Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, said the influx of tourists thus served to generate the huge amount of $1.9 billion. She further revealed that bookings for tour at the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles have shot up since November, with hotels having indications of a 100% occupancy rate for the last week of November.
Additionally, to further boost tourism, Barbra indicated that the Heroes Garden has been transformed into a Memorial Garden of Return.
The “Year of Return” is a year-long event of the return of the descendants of the first enslaved Africans from James Town in Accra to James town in Virginia in the United States of America (USA).
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