Accra, June 30 (DPA) Ghana crashed out of the World Cup on its maiden appearance much earlier than its football fans and countrymen had wished. But the event has put the country on the world tourism map, authorities say.
The 0-3 loss to mighty Brazil and defending champions in the second round Tuesday ended Ghana's World Cup dreams and broke hundreds of thousands of hearts.
However, authorities in the West African country are celebrating one important victory: They believe the World Cup in Germany has made Ghana a global tourist destination.
Ghana had been struggling to boost tourism in a bid to diversify its economy but there had been poor success. Now officials feel the country has finally made progress through the heroic performance of the Ghana Black Stars.
Tourism Minister Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey said Ghana's participation in the World Cup had helped to market the country abroad. Many advertisements related to the World Cup in the international media mention Ghana in some way.
'Ghana could not have paid for this advertisement,' the minister said. 'When I was in London, almost every ad mentioned Ghana. Coca-Cola and other companies talked about Ghana in their ads.'
Ghana, rated 48 by the world football governing body FIFA, entered the World Cup without being given any chance of surviving the group stage.
The group had three giants - Italy, the Czech Republic and the US. They were far ahead of Ghana in terms of star celebrity. The Czech Republic is rated number two and the US number five. Only Italy was not in FIFA's top 10.
However, Ghana avoided an early funeral by soundly beating the Czech Republic 2-0 and the US 2-1.
But that set the Black Stars up for a match against five-time world champion Brazil, who defeated them as expected. But Ghana bowed out with their heads raised very high.
Ghanaian flags and other paraphernalia were in hot demand, according to the ministry of information and national orientation. Some 250,000 miniature flags had to be flown to the Ghana embassy in Berlin.
Ghanaians living abroad confirm that many people were asking where the country was located, an important positive side effect of the tournament.
Obetsebi-Lamptey said even though the ministry of tourism had made a lot of efforts to sell Ghana abroad, the World Cup had achieved what these attempts had failed to bring home.
'Tourism has a huge potential to boost the country's economy and contribute to poverty alleviation especially in the rural areas,' he said.
With the tourism industry being the largest and fastest growing worldwide, stimulating other sectors such as agriculture, finance and manufacturing, Ghana's authorities are motivated to work to earn more from the sector.
The country feels strongly that it has what it takes to be attractive to tourists.
Geographically it can claim to be the centre of the world. The Greenwich Meridian passes through its port city of Tema, 25 km east of Accra.
Ghana has been advertising itself as having a good array of potential attractions for visitors, having always been known for its hospitality and wide range of tourist facilities.
At the moment, tourism is considered the fourth largest source of foreign exchange earnings, estimated at $650 million in 2004.
The sector contributes about five percent of GDP, employs between 150,000 and 200,000 people directly and indirectly and is the fastest growing sector with 12 percent.
Statistics from the ministry indicate that tourist arrivals have steadily increased over the past 15 years from 145,000 in 1990 to some 600,000 in 2004.
The target is to increase tourist arrivals to one million and foreign exchange earnings to $1.5 billion by 2007 and also increase domestic tourism. Another target is to create some 300,000 jobs in the sector by 2007.
The list of attractions includes Ghana's natural environmental heritage and historical and cultural features.
Ghana is rich in wildlife and has national parks and reserves, waterfalls, a long beach on the Atlantic Ocean, sunny weather and scenic landscapes.
© 2006 DPA | 
