The Minister for Tourism Arts and Culture, Dr Mohammed Amin Awal has indicated that the government will this week begin the disbursement of a $55 million grant from the World Bank to boost the tourism industry.

This follows agitations by some stakeholders in the hospitality industry over the delay in disbursing the money.

He stated that “In the last two months people have applied; thousands of them. So, the team has gone through the processes, sieved them and beginning Thursday or Friday this week we will start disbursing the money according to the procedure. Hopefully, this will not only help people to come back from the COVID-19 pandemic, but it will also make sure that they strengthen their SMEs, improve their governance and improve their sites”.

The fund was released by the World Bank about two months ago to boost the Government of Ghana’s efforts to revive the tourism sector as the country continues to grapple with the impact of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the President of the Ghana Hotels Association, Dr Edward Ackah-Nyamike, lauded the announcement and called for transparency in the disbursements. “If it goes as planned, that will definitely be a welcomed development. Indeed, as an association, we expect the disbursement to be very smooth and transparent with easily accessible information of beneficiaries so that we can also monitor what the grant is being used for by these members moving forward.”