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Women to get 60% of $10m tourism grant

Some 60 per cent of the $10 million grant to improve the tourism sector will be given to businesses run by women.

The government, in partnership with the World Bank, launched the grant last Thursday to support 1,500 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the tourism, arts and culture value chain.

The grant comes in three categories, namely the COVID-19 Relief Grant of $2 million which would be given to over 1,000 beneficiaries, the SMEs Grant of $3.5 million, which would go to about 100 businesses, and the Site Upgrade Grant of $4.5 million, for which 30 applicants would be considered.

The Technical Advisor of the Ghana Tourism Development Project (GTDP) of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and culture, Professor Gabriel Eshun, disclosed this at a seminar in Koforidua last Friday.

The seminar was to sensitise stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality industry such as hoteliers, restaurant operators, tourist site owners, dressmakers, beauticians, car rental service providers, travel agents, guest house owners, food service operators, arts and crafts enterprises and entertainment industry characters from the Greater Accra, Eastern, Volta and Oti regions.

It was to explain the technicalities and laid down processes for accessing the grants.

Prof. Eshun said the chunk of the money had been earmarked for women-run businesses because they formed the majority group of operators in the tourism sector.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the tourism sector players which was dominated by women, leaving them worse off.

He said any operator that fell within the category could apply for the facility to be considered on the individual’s needs.

Affected businesses
The Chief Executive Officer of the GTDP, Kwadwo Antwi, said any person in the tourism sector whose business was adversely affected by COVID-19, the Russian-Ukraine war or the general economic hardship in the country qualified for the grant.
The prospective beneficiaries must apply through the GTDP website.
"If your business is not registered in Ghana, then automatically you are not qualified to benefit from the grant," Mr Antwi explained.

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