Ghana to attract music tourists
Music has always been a pull for tourists to visit certain places and the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, has started making moves to add Ghana to such destinations.
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A MUSIGA itinerary recently made available to the media indicates that the 2016 edition of the Ghana Music Week (GMW) Festival would be launched in the City of Mount Vernon in New York in the United States of America on October 17, 2015.
The festival will then be launched in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 9, 2016. Plans are also said to be in place for a South African launch as part of efforts to give the festival a truly global appeal.
According to the president of MUSIGA, Bice Osei Kuffour, the launches are meant to attract the international community to patronise the festival and to brand Ghana as a preferred destination for lovers of contemporary as well as traditional African music.
There is hundreds of music festivals around the world, with the largest said to be the Montreal International Jazz Festival in Montreal, Canada. It attracts about 2.5 million attendees every year, a third of who are tourists.
The Newport Jazz Festival is also a music bash held annually in Newport, Rhode Island in the United States, and it attracts jazz lovers from around the world, the way the Reggae Sunsplash festival in Montego Bay, Jamaica, is a mecca for reggae lovers.
Overall, an estimated 10 million people travel internationally each year for the main purpose of watching or participating in a music or cultural festival.
The GMW Festival is a seven-day music programme held each year at various venues in the first week of March. It features musicians from Ghana and across the continent who offer a wide variety of repertoire.
The festival, which is organised by Fantasy Entertainment and Showbiz Africa in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, also incorporates activities such as seminars, conferences, sales and exhibition and street parties.