He told Kwame Dadzie during the Joy FM Manifesto Debate on Creative Economy that his reason for proposing that idea in the past, still holds.

“I still believe in funeral tourism. The month that we discussed funeral tourism as a topic when it went viral, I remember telling the whole Ghana that one of the one of the popular tourist sites in Japan was their cemetery because it is the biggest. And so when it comes to tourism, it is the prerogative of you the one who wants to sell a product that you have a story to tell, that could attract somebody to have to travel to, to have a purchase or watch, spend time and have experience with the product. So we are saying that, Ghanaians already travel. We travel for funerals anyway. So why don’t we add tourism to it? It still believe in it any day any time. It is not in the manifesto because it is not everything that hs to be in the manifesto.

The Chief Executive of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyeman, who was Mark’s co-speaker for the debate also added because funerals have tourism potentials, the thought about leveraging on them for better gains.

“If you look at the UN’s definition of tourism, anybody to travels outside his or her normal place for a period not more than a year. So when you travel to a funeral to say the Volta Region or Tamale, you don’t consider yourself as a tourist but really, you are touring because you might stay in a hotel which is part of the tourism industry, you will buy food in a restaurant or chop bar which is licensed by the GTA.

So the whole idea is that if you take a place like Ashanti Region, the value of funerals is tourism: music, cultural troupes performing, spinners, sound engineers, transport service and others are all part. So what the ministry was saying at that time was that let’s see how we can leverage what is already happening,” he indicated.

In November 2021, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku-Mantey first broached the funeral tourism idea on Hitz FM, he quoted Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, former Minister for Tourism, Arts & Culture, who despite his stance as a Muslim, maintained a professional outlook regarding the issue.

“You [Christians] keep your bodies [corpse], and there are things you do that can attract people to go to a particular town,” Mark had quoted Dr. Awal.

Later in 2023, Dr. Awal re-ignited the debate on the funeral tourism idea.

“We will find funerals at places where there are tourist attractions. When they finish the funeral, the people will be served local dishes and drinks including sobolo so that when we finish, we will bus them to these tourist attractions.

Ghanaians love funerals, and it’s voluntary. When there is a funeral here, we will announce that we can go to Bonwire. People are selling kente there, and when they go there, they will spend money.

“We are busing them for free, so when we go to that area, there are restaurants there; they will buy food; they will buy artefacts. They will enrich the local economy. So we will take advantage of funerals to deepen our cultural assets and thereby create jobs for our youth”, Dr. Awal had remarked.

At present, Ghana’s tourism industry has been touted as the second largest sector of Ghana’s economy.

Dubbed MANIFESTO DEBATE ON CREATIVE ECONOMY, the programme will air live on Joy FM and Joy Prime on September 14, 2024, from 2 PM to 6 PM.

The manifesto debate will engage reps from the two major political parties: NDC and NPP in conversations on provisions in their manifesto policy ideas for tourism, arts and culture.

Speaking for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be Baba Sadiq (NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Okaikoi Central Constituency). Baba Sadiq Abdulai Abu, popularly known as Baba Sadiq, is a trained media and communications specialist, entrepreneur and a politician who has worked his way up in the African media and communications sustainability industries within the last 20 years. He has work in various capacities as a media and communications executive and an entrepreneur.

The NDC is also presenting Rex Owusu Marfo (Member of NDC Manifesto Committee). Rex is one of the leading musicians in Ghana who he has also trained as a management professional specializing in intellectual property rights being one of the leading authorities on the subject in Ghana. On the political scene, Rex has been the advisor to the former president and minority Party, the National Democratic Congress advising the Party on the importance and development of the creative arts in the cultural and entertainment industry in Ghana. He has also been the Party’s public spokesperson on matters relating to this industry.

From the camp of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will be the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku-Mantey. Minister, he was the acting Creative Arts Council President where he engaged creative practitioners across the country vis a vis soliciting their inputs to facilitate the passage of the Creative Industries Bill and organising monthly Masterclasses to equip industry players on their various disciplines. He was the liaison between government and the creative industry for strategic decision making purposes. He has played high-ranking roles in areas of Ghana’s music, film and media.

Also speaking for the NPP will be Akwasi Agyeman, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), the lead public service agency in charge of regulating tourism in Ghana through marketing and promotion, licensing and classification of tourism facilities and services, investments, research and development.

Francis Doku, the Chief Operations Officer of Plugin Digital Limited, will present the keynote address. He is a distinguished figure in the Ghanaian marketing communications and media industry, renowned for his extensive experience and significant contributions spanning over two and half decades.

With a solid background in media planning, buying, digital marketing, and marketing management, Doku has worked with and on some of the biggest global blue-chip brands.

The MC for the programme is Noella Kharyne Yalley, a broadcast journalist, events MC and voice-over artist with The Multimedia Group.

This thought-leadership event hosted/moderated by Kwame Dadzie, is produced by Philip Nai, assisted by Anita Teye and Martin Asare.

The host, Kwame Dadzie, is an entertainment journalist with The Multimedia Group. He hosts Ghana’s most authoritative entertainment talk show, Showbiz A-Z on Joy 99.7FM. Kwame is noted for his progressive stories and think pieces on the creative economy.

For the past 15 years of being in the showbiz space, Kwame Dadzie has served various capacities as entertainment journalist in print media, radio and television.

He has also been instrumental in different forms of activism for the cultural and creative industries.

Kwame played a pivotal role in the revival of the Arts and Tourism Writers Association of Ghana (ATWAG), a group of Ghanaian arts writers/journalists and media workers who seek to promote arts, tourism and culture reporting in Ghana while developing the professional capacity and the welfare of its members. He served as the group’s Public Relations Officer for four years.

The 5th edition of Joy FM’s Showbiz Roundtable is powered by Showbiz A-Z, your most authoritative entertainment talk show in Ghana.

Source: Joy Entertainment

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