EASTERN Region, the third most populous political area after the Ashanti and Greater Accra regions, has a heterogeneous population of 2.1 million (according to the 2000 Population and Housing Census).
The people can be classified in three main groups — the Krobos, the Guans and the Akans comprising the Akyems, Akwamus, Kwahus, Akuapems and Juabens. All of them have peculiar ways of life and rich divergent cultures mostly exhibited during festivals.
While the Krobos celebrate the Ngmayem and Kloyosikplem festivals in remembrance of severe famine and forceful ejection from their ancestral home on the Krobo Mountains by the British colonialists centuries ago, the Akuapems celebrate the Odwira with the Boso Guans celebrating the Odwedji.
The Akyem Abuakwas, the largest of the three Akyem groups celebrate the Ohum while the other two, Kotoku and Bosome have different festivals.
Although the Kwahus have no specific festival, the Easter festivities have become a period when the Kwahus both at home and abroad, visit their ancestral homes to undertake many activities which draw a number of tourists to the area.
The Juabens, descendants of Ashantis who migrated from old Juaben to the region centuries ago, also celebrate Akwasidae, climaxing it with the Akwantukese Festival in remembrance of the difficulties their ancestors went through during the exodus.
The festivals are celebrated annually at different periods in the traditional capitals such as Kyebi in Akyem Abuakwa, Akropong in Akuapem and Akwamufie in Akwamu.
Apart from hosting the Kloyosiplem and Ngmayem festivals, the people of Somanya in Yilo Krobo and Odumase in Manya Krobo are also noted for the picturesque Dipo puberty rites which prepare adolescent girls adorned in beads and other traditional cloths for womanhood.
Apart from those festivals which draw a number of both domestic and foreign tourists to the region, there are also numerous tourist attractions in different parts of the area that also bring in a lot of visitors.
Some of the tourist facilities are the Boti, Arkaa and Tini falls in Yilo Krobo, Akuapem North and Atiwa Districts, respectively, the Butterfly Sanctuary within the Atiwa Mountains which contains a lot of ancient caves that have become habitats of bats and different species of animals.
There is also the Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm at Mampong-Akuapem where the offspring of the original cocoa tree planted by the man who brought the golden pod from Fernando Po nearly 200 years ago is still flourishing.
Other tourist attractions are the Big Tree at Aprokumase near Akyem Oda, which is supposed to be the biggest in West Africa and the Dwarf and Dodi Islands on the Volta Lake.
With the exception of the Aburi Botanical Garden which has to some extent been developed to attract visitors as well as the Akosombo Dam where a number of foreign visitors including dignitaries visit while in the country, the rest of the tourist sites have not seen any improvement.
There has not also been any elaborate plan to showcase the various traditional festivals to the outside world to draw more visitors to the areas which would rake in foreign exchange revenue and also create jobs for the unemployed.
Realising that such festivals and tourist facilities when properly developed could accelerate the region’s development, the Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo on assumption of office, took steps to improve such tourist sites.
He first toured two of the facilities, the Boti and Arkaah falls to be followed by other trips in a bid to add value to the sites and place in the region on the tourism map of the world.
Accompanied by the Eastern Regional Manager of the Ghana Tourist Board, Mr Sampson Donkor, the regional minister met with some of the landowners and operators of the facilities last week.
They discussed a wide range of issues from land compensation and the construction of first-class reception centres with facilities such as water, electricity, public places of convenience and mini restaurants and bars for relaxation.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo, who was overwhelmed by the beauty of the two water falls, immediately unveiled a number of initiatives and tasked the Yilo and Akuapem North District assemblies to come out with programmes for their development.
Some of Mr Ofosu-Ampofo’s novelties are the involvement of private participation in the development of the sites, training of local people as tour guides as well as creation of websites on the tourist facilities and festivals which must also have brochures to serve as bait to tourists.
To hasten the development of the tourist sites, Mr Ofosu-Ampofo stated that the regional co-ordinating council would be collaborating with the ministries of tourism, transport and highways which would ensure that roads leading to the sites are in good condition at all times.
According to him, the Ministry of Education would also be roped in for a systematic and sustained programme during which pupils and students from basic, second cycle and tertiary educational institutions would visit the sites during holidays.
With regard to traditional festivals, the regional minister has also indicated his outfit’s preparedness to collaborate with the traditional authorities for their celebrations.
The Ofosu-Ampofo’s tourism development initiative although very laudable, could only succeed if stakeholders, especially owners of the land in which the tourist sites are located are compensated to avoid litigation.
Furthermore, the various district assemblies must place tourism development on their agenda and collaborate with the Regional Co-ordinating Councils which should in turn get in touch with the relevant sector ministries on the issue.
That would attract a lot of domestic and foreign tourists who would also be provided with good services in many of the newly-constructed hotels with all the necessary facilities, especially at Koforidua, the regional capital, the gateway to the tourist sites.
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