SHAPE Attitude Ghana Participates in the Official Launch of YOTOFEST 2022

The Tourism Society of Ghana in collaboration with the Sanitation Taskforce of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) and SHAPE Attitude Ghana has launched the 2022 Youth in Tourism Festival (YOTOFEST).

The launching which marks the third edition of YOTOFEST, took place on Friday, 12^th November, 2021, at the North Campus Mini-Conference Room of UEW. It was under the theme “The Youth, Tourism and Sanitation”.   

The weeklong festival slated for June, 2022, at the Central Region in UEW for the first time, has a range of interactive activities to be undertaken. The event will be the flagship at the regional level, allowing young participants to be part of a unique experience aimed at promoting youth engagement in the tourism sector and empowering younger generations to initiate more sustainable domestic tourism promotions.     

The Director of Tourism at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Nana Kankam, who launched the festival on behalf of the Minister, Hon. Ibrahim Awal Mohammed, indicated that tourism could not exist without the environment. He specified that there was a symbiotic relationship between the environment and tourism. “So, in its absence, you cannot operate tourism; therefore, if the environment is not clean, neat or it’s not supportive, life cannot trend.”

The CEO and Director of SHAPE Attitude Ghana, Mr. Wonderful Baisie Ghartey, on his part, said that several studies had shown that sanitation is the best investment for tourism. He recounted that “If tourists are dissatisfied with sanitation facilities in a country, they are likely not to visit again and discourage other potential tourists as well”. Therefore, it is vital to develop infrastructure and effective systems for monitoring to make sure that hygiene and sanitation standards are always maintained, he stressed.

Mr. Ghartey concluded that in Winneba, the local authority should harness the efforts of all the stakeholders such as the Sanitation Taskforce of University of Education, Winneba (UEW) and SHAPE Attitude Ghana; The Council of Churches and its initiative by the Winneba Ministers Fellowship and of course the Youth Associations in achieving acceptable sanitation standards for promoting tourism.

There were other addresses by representatives of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Tourism Society of Ghana, Ghana Tourism Development Company and T. T. Brothers Limited.   

The 2022 YOTOFEST seeks to implement a comprehensive analysis of the problems and prospects to find ways to develop youth tourism in the country and create a new model for work in that area, as well as ensure active participation in the sustainable development of youth tourism in Ghana.