The Ashanti Regional Directorate of the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) is organising an educational tour for students at the tertiary level within the Kumasi Metropolis and its environs, to create awareness on the importance of eco-tourism.
Selected students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi Polytechnic and the University of Education, Winneba, Kumasi Campus would actively participate in the tour which would take them to the catchment area of the Owabi Dam.
The tour, which has the theme “Tourism and biodiversity’, and will take place on September 25, 2010, is also meant to sensitise them to support the protection and preservation of potential tourist attractions in the region .
That, according to the Tourist Board, was to entice the present and future generations to appreciate the importance of eco-tourism and its significance on the tourism industry and support its development.
As part of the tour, the students would take part in a tree planting exercise and symposium meant to educate them on the values of the ecosystem.
The Ashanti Regional Manager of the GTB, Mr Ekow Sampson, who disclosed this an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the tour would be held on the day set aside as the World Tourism Day as a way of promoting the importance of tourism among the youth.
He said the programme would be concentrated at the Owabi Wildlife Sanctuary where residents of the dam’s catchment area are threatening the wildlife .
“With the tree planting exercise, we would be creating awareness among students on the value of trees , especially on biodiversity and how they can contribute more meaningfully towards the protection of the environment”, he explained, adding “similar tours would be organised for the students for them to visit the Barekese Dam, the Bobri Forest Reserve and Lake Bosomtwe to educate them on the importance of such landmarks.
Mr Sampson noted that with students involved in regular tree planting exercises, the present generation would be preserving the environment for the future, as a way of sustaining the tourist potential in the region in particular and the country as a whole.
“That is how eco-tourism emanated, and with this, the environment would be preserved”, he explained further.
He said by preserving the environment, water , which was key to the development of eco-tourism would also be protected to ensure profitable tourism.TOURIST
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