The leader and creative director of the Amamere Folk Music & Dance Ensemble, Badu Evans, has called on government to ensure an intensive promotion of cultural tourism to bring in more revenue to support the economy.
According to him, when good policies and structures are put in place to promote cultural tourism, the nation stands to benefit and could make a lot from its unique and rich culture.
“Our leaders should also give greater attention to the country’s cultural heritage and tourism to attract investors and generate employment for the people in the country,” he told BEATWAVES in an interview.
He stated that Ghanaian culture, music and dance when promoted will help in diverse ways to educate people who do not know the true history and culture of Ghana.
Badu Evans cited that traditional festivals, music, dance and other performing arts need to be properly harnessed to help create wealth for the country.
He stressed that cultural festivals, cultural dance performances, crafts and culinary would have to be well-packaged to meet the required standards in order to woo more tourists.
“With the growing global competition for tourists, Ghanaians must appreciate what they have and lead the way into people’s heart to enable them to appreciate Ghana’s tourism potentials,” Badu Evans mentioned.
He, however, tasked metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives to collaborate with the Ministry of Tourism and Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) to promote cultural tourism vigorously to the benefit of all Ghanaians.
The creative director observed that the promotion of tourism, culture and creative arts is a shared responsibility that requires the contribution of all stakeholders, including policymakers, private sector, traditional authorities, among others.
The Amamere Folk Music & Dance Ensemble, he disclosed, has been involved in the promotion and development of traditional Ghanaian music, dance and promotion of cultural tourism for the past decade.
The group has participated in a number of international cultural festivals in Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, USA, among others. It has also won a number of local and international awards.
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