The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Catherine Afeku, has disclosed that the Hotel, Catering and Tourism Training Institute (HOTCATT) will begin operations by January 2019 after 6 years of closure.

According to her, the rejuvenated HOTCATT will aid in the transformation of Ghana’s tourism and hospitality industry, as well as building stronger socio-economic development.

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In an interview on Adom TV’s Badwam show Thursday, Madam Afeku revealed that the restoration of the institute after a long period of desertion is aimed at providing an enabling environment for the training of personnel for the hospitality industry.

“It’s true we have hospitality departments in universities in Ghana but we want to create a separate strong institution specifically for the training of skilled and certified personnel. This, I believe, will help to improve our service delivery which is the greatest challenge of the industry,” she announced.

Madam Afeku also mentioned the need for hospitality and tourism institutions to meet the requirements of the World Bank to create a strong tourism enabling environment.

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This, he said was aimed at addressing the problems of training, skills development, aviation, entry visa policy, branding and marketing in the Ghana tourism industry

“The industry received 40 million dollars from the World Bank of which 33% constitutes grants to revamp the Ghana tourism industry which they stated has caught their attention,” she revealed.