The Okere District Assembly in the Eastern region is set to become the best Eco-tourism destination in Ghana leveraging on its unique weather condition, topography, cultural and Traditional histories as well as waterfalls.
The mountainous district has many tourist sites including the famous Okomfo Anokye shrine, waterfalls, and other eco-tourism sites which are being developed.
Okere has also become a destination for vacations by families and friends due to its siren whether conditions which players in the hospitality industry are taken advantage of to establish hotels and eco-parks.
According to the DCE for the area, Daniel Kenneth Addo, the Assembly’s number one priority is to take advantage of the competitive environmental advantage to become the number eco-tourism destination in Ghana.
“We as District tourism is our number one development agenda. We have a lot of tourist sites and so it is one of our long-term development plans to be able to become the best tourism hub in this country .so for us tourism is a very serious business”.
He said due to this, Okere District launched its tourism fest in 2018 to be observed annually as part of the tourism agenda of the District.
The DCE said this when the Assembly joined the management of Ridge Nest Hotel to plant 2,700 trees of 13 different species as part of its cooperate social responsibilities in sync with the eco-tourism vision of the Assembly.
The DCE said, the Okere District Assembly is set to also start a one-year sanitation project to clean the District as part of the tourism drive
For sustainability, the Assembly is going to embark on a vigorous environmental awareness campaign with emphasis on sanitation by-laws before full enforcement of the laws accompanied with “naming and shaming” punishment regime by ranking cleanest and dirtiest communities as well as Traditional areas.
Speaking to the media Scofray Nana Yaw Yeboah, the consultant for Ridge Nest Hotel (RNH) said, 22 locations and sites including Asenema falls, Abonse slave market, Boti & Akaa Falls, Akonede shrine, among others have been identified by Ridge Nest for investment to develop its tourism potentials.
After the tree planting exercise, the staff, and management of RNH, and the district’s leadership paid a courtesy call on the Omanhene of Apirade Traditional Area, Nana Saforo Okuampah III, who released a large tract of land for the construction of a golf park as support to tourism promotion in the district.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Obed Ansah
