2024 SoNA: President Akufo-Addo on progress chalked, anticipated for tourism, creative arts

The creative arts sector was among the many significant campaign pledges that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo addressed in his State of the Nation speech.

The President stated in his speech yesterday in Parliament that the nation’s tourism industry is now reaching its long-promised potential.

He went on to explain that after the celebrations and excitement of the Year of Return in 2019, the tourism sector grew into a well-liked vacation destination with a yearly growth in the number of visitors.

He revealed that since Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park was constructed in 1992, this is the first time the government has fully refurbished and modernized it.

The amount of both local and foreign visitors to the reestablished park has expanded dramatically since it opened for business in July of last year.

Since the park’s opening, 280,000 local and overseas visitors have come between July 14 and December 31, 2023 (208,557).

According to him, improvements are being made to other amenities, and it’s good to see businesses contributing to the development of tourist attractions.

He revealed that the National Museum Gallery, which had been closed since 2015, had undergone a thorough makeover and welcomed over 35,000 visitors in 2023—many of whom were students.

“Building will soon begin as the preparatory work and designs for the Heroes Park, a museum honouring Ghana’s founding fathers, the Big Six: JB Danquah, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, Edward Akufo-Addo, Ebenezer AkoAdjei, William Ofori-Atta, and Kwame Nkrumah, were completed in December 2023,” he stated.