Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyeman, says his firm does not provide funding to event organizers.
Speaking in an interview with Andy Dosty on Daybreak Hitz, Mr Agyeman mentioned that the GTA believes in giving some sort of support to event organizers who want to work with them to be a part of the December in GH initiative.
According to him, the notion out there that the GTA gives financial support to these organizers is not true.
He clarified that the Ghana Tourism Authority’s logo is a confirmation that the state endorses these events they associate with.
“We are not a funding agency for events. What we do is give the people some confidence that this event will happen. For it to become an official December in GH event, we put our logo on it. You cannot just put our logo on your event.”
Mr Akwasi Agyeman also admitted that, there are some instances where they support with some resources to help certain events that come to them with last-minute emergencies.
He further cited an instance where some event organizers came to the GTA to pull out of the December in GH initiative because they had challenges with their sound.
“There have been instances where people come up and say they can’t do the event. They will tell you that they have issues with their sound and sometimes we bring in vendors to work for some of these event organizers.”
Mr Agyeman added that, the Ghana Tourism Authority cannot fund every event since it is not their mandate to do so.
“We can say we will pay for every event. That is not how public money is used. It’s on a case-by-case basis. Generally, the letter that you will get states that we have given you permission to organise the event and use our logo. That one is clear. We are not a funding agency for events” he added.