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Elorm Ntem and Derrick Okanta win in 2020 Chocolate Day Competitions
As part of activities leading up to the 2020 Chocolate Day celebration, the Ghana Tourism Authority put up a digital media campaign inviting the public to share images of themselves consuming their favourite Made-in-Ghana cocoa or chocolate product to stand a chance of winning prizes. Several people put up entries and in the end, Elorm Ntem, a student of the University of Health and Allied Sciences went home with a beautiful hamper of Cocoa and Chocolate products. Her photos drew admiration for her.
Cocoa Arts Competition
On the other hand, the ‘Cocoa Art Competition’ organized by Ghana Tourism Authority was the first of its kind. Craftsmen communicated the cocoa story of Ghana in their own particular manner through artistic creation. In all, we had 11 participants, which includes 10 males and 1 Female. Participants came up with their own painting telling the cocoa story of Ghana.
At the end of the event, three winners were selected by the Jury for coming up with great concepts. All other participants were not left out as their efforts were acknowledged which saw them go home with products from COCOBOD, CPC and Niche Cocoa who were partners of the event. Derrick was accompanied by the mother to receive his prize.
Derrick Okanta, Rodney Osei Aboagye, Richmond Adjei emerged as 1st, 2ndand 3rdin the cocoa art competition respectively as their artworks won the hearts of the Jury and many that attended. The winners received cash prizes of 3000.00, 2000.00 and 1500.00 respectively in addition to products from event partners.
Winners were presented their prizes at the My Chocolate Experience durbar and Exhibition held at the Alisa Hotel, North Ridge on the 14thof February 2020.
Nigeria National Defence College delegation pay courtesy call on GTA
A delegation from the Nigeria National Defence Council paid a courtesy call to the ghana tourism authority on last Thursday, 13th February 2020.
The delegation which included 21 faculty members and 22 participants were on a week’s study tour to ghana.
The delegation was led by the Deputy Commandant of the College, Major General A. E Attu and comprises Senior Officers of the Military, Police as well as some Senior Officials from other African countries.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Mr. Akwasi Agyeman, made a presentation on Ghana’s tourism to the delegation highlighting the ‘Year of Return’ and what Ghana was doing to sustain the gains with ‘Beyond The Return’.
Air commodore Kehinde Adebayo Gabriel thanked GTA for receiving the group and presented a plaque to Mr. Akwasi Agyeman. GTA on her part presented some tourism promotional materials to the delegation.
The City Of Memphis To Honour Ghana In A Month-Long Celebration
The Memphis in May International Festival has chosen the Republic of Ghana as the country to salute at the 2020 Memphis in May International Festival. The annual event selects a new country each year and it’s exciting that Ghana has been given the choice spot for 2020. The month-long celebration will be curated to put a spotlight on Ghana’s arts, culture, education, entertainment, food and of course, its people.
This is not the first time an African country has been selected to celebrate at this festival, but it comes at a time when the world is already watching Ghana after its successful Year of Return campaign. With Ghana’s new Beyond the Return campaign focused on a decade-long engagement with the diaspora, being recognized at this festival is the perfect opportunity to celebrate Ghana’s democratic credentials, economic gains, peace and stability. The city of Memphis will be honouring Ghana for the entire month of May with a schedule of key activities that highlight the country.
This has been two years in the making as the Embassy of Ghana, USA, under the leadership of H.E. Dr. Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration have been working together in highlighting Ghana as a choice country for business and tourism.
The festival will include several activities and kicks off with the largest music event, the Beale Street Music Festival, which takes place from 1st– 3rdMay. Ghana’s Award-winning artists, Sarkodie and Stonebwoy are both confirmed to perform alongside American artists including Lil Wayne, Nelly, Three 6 Mafia and many more. It’s another opportunity to share Ghana’s music talent with the world.
The festival will be a platform to showcase Ghanaian cultural performances including plays in collaboration with the National Theatre and a performance by a renowned Highlife artist set to take place inside the Orpheum Theatre. Ghanaian filmmakers will also be featured as five Ghanaian films will be screened during a series dubbed Ghana Indie Memphis.
When it comes to education, the Memphis school system has included a 70-page curriculum for students from Kindergarten to High School to learn about Ghana during the entire year of 2020. There will also be an exchange program giving students from Ghana a chance to travel to Memphis and students from Memphis the opportunity to visit Ghana.
The Ambassador calls on all Ghanaians at home and in the United States to take advantage and support this festival by attending. The festival will break cultural barriers and serve to foster long-lasting relations between the people of Memphis and the people of Ghana while boosting trade and economic relations.
For more information about the annual festival visit the website at www.memphisinmay.org
Written by Ivy Prosper
Chocolate Day 2020: Over 600 Cocoa Farmers Receive Free Health Screening And Cocoa Products
Inhabitants of Anum Apapamu, a cocoa farming community near Suhum in the Eastern Region have benefitted from free cocoa drinks and medical screening organized by Ghana Cocoa Board in collaboration with the Cocoa Processing Company ahead of the upcoming National Chocolate Day Celebration slated for 14th February.
Speaking at a durbar of farmers at Apapamu, the Chief Pharmacist at the Cocoa Clinic, Accra, Dr. Edward Amporful said that over the past 15 years, National Chocolate Day activities had been held mostly in the cities adding the decision to have organized a free health screening at a cocoa community to as part of the celebration reinforces COCOBOD’s commitment to improving the well-being of its gallant cocoa farmers.
Dr. Amporful further observed that the Board and the Cocoa Processing Company had made available chocolate drinks to serve all farmers and their relatives who would be screened as part of the exercise.
”Oftentimes, we have been organizing Chocolate Day in Accra, Kumasi and the other cities. But this time around the Board directed that the day should be marked with free medical care and cocoa drinks for our cocoa farmers”, he disclosed.
Dr. Amporful urged the farmers to consume cocoa regularly in order to stay healthy, energized and refreshed for their daily activities. According to him, diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, malaria and other conditions such as stress, fatigue, and memory loss could be controlled by taking cocoa regularly.
‘The cocoa you cultivate has a lot of essential minerals that help in the general maintenance of the body- cocoa is known to have minerals which can help you overcome tiredness, stress, hypertension and other health conditions including diabetes, so consume it’, he emphasized.
Over 600 cocoa farmers mostly from Owuram, Mfrano, Suhum, Okanta, Obuoho Sowatey, Kofi Pare, Abochikrom and others, were screened for diabetes, hypertension, Hepatitis B &C, Malaria and breast lumps and farmers with cases identified to be serious were advised to visit the nearest health facility for a thorough examination.
Meanwhile, the 2020 National Chocolate Day is being marked under the theme, ‘My Chocolate Experience; My holistic well-being’ with the climax of the celebration slated for 14th February at the Alisa Hotel, Accra.
Chocolate Day has since 2005 been observed to create awareness on the health and nutritional benefits of cocoa and the need for regular intake of cocoa products.
Read More: About Chocolate Day
Re – Tourism Authority Draws More Attention To Ghana at 2020 New York Times Travel Show
Earlier this week, Ghanaweb published a report culled from a barely-known blog named ‘The AfroDrifter’ with a tiny social media following of 4 Instagram followers, 144 Facebook likes and 339 Twitter followers. The author of the blog post, Freeman Chari, is a Zimbabwean living in America. We wish to point out emphatically that the statements made in the blog post about Ghana’s booth at the New York Times Travel Show are false and likely driven by a desire to drive traffic to his site or stems from inadequate understanding of the show or the industry. Interestingly the blog had no picture of the booth or the four people he claimed were on their phones continuously for two days.
In 2020, North America is being focused on as a key target market as Ghana builds on the momentum of the Year of Return into the new project ” Beyond the Return”.The World Tourism Organization reports that Americans spent 144 billion (U.S. dollars) on tourism expenditures in 2018. The buying power of the African-American population is expected to increase to 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars by 2020 as reported by Statista.
To capitalize on the North American market trends and to enter the United States travel trade show sector, GTA for the first time ever, attended the New York Times Travel Show held at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City from 24th – 26th January 2020. The delegation was led by the Minister of Tourism Arts & Culture and included the GTA CEO, Manager Year of Return, GTA Product Development & Investment Manager, and three of the leading private sector tour operators (Landtours, Sunseekers, Apstar). The New York Times Travel Show attracts more than 35,000 attendees with over 700 exhibitors from more than 175 countries, making it the largest travel trade and consumer show in North America.
The GTA booth was dually branded as ‘Visit Ghana’ and ‘Beyond The Return.’
The setup was engaging with several trade and consumer visitors. At one point in time, GTA had to annex an unoccupied stand to be able to serve the numerous visitors. The tables were nicely covered with the white “Year of Return” cloth, the backdrop was boldly branded as ‘Beyond The Return,” and the entryway branded as ‘Visit Ghana.” There were thousands of marketing materials and giveaways to visitors which included Ghana chocolate, notebooks, pen drives, informational materials and much more.
Ghana was also one of the few African countries that had a speaking opportunity at the show with the CEO featuring as a product expert on Heritage offerings. On the sidelines of the travel show, the team led by the Minister engaged media Houses such as the New York Times, Harlem Times and clinched a deal to host this year’s Africa Tourism Association “World to Africa” Tourism Conference in Ghana in October, 2020.
In the post-event wrap up meeting the Minister held with the private sector tour operators, they were extremely happy with the leads they generated through the lead retrieval app deployed to collect lead information. To collect a lead, tour operators and GTA officials used their mobile phones to scan the QR Code on the name badge of each interested lead. The data from the QR Code about the lead was automatically sent to a database for immediate action.
We have taken pains to explain in detail because several well-meaning and patriotic Ghanaians have reached out to find out the accuracy of the report. Whilst we welcome criticism and feedback, we will not be distracted in our quest to market and make Ghana a top tourism destination.
The ‘AfroDrifter’ blog post is inaccurate and must be disregarded.
SANEGBAA (A National Conversation) – International Mother Language Day 2020
International Mother Language Day is observed every year to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was created by UNESCO (the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization) in order to promote the dissemination of mother tongues and a fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue. It is in light of this that the Bureau of Ghana Languages has created an annual Ghanaian Languages Festival called SANEGBAA to commemorate the UNESCO International Mother Language Day. With a successful history, the Bureau of Ghana Languages is prepared to present yet another outstanding festival this year.
The 2020 SANEGBAA promises to be bigger and better than last year. The festival is again designed to begin with screening of films well produced in the Ghanaian languages. This will be followed up with a Master class by the ace actor and Chairman of Ghana Film Authority, Mr.David Dontoh, on the topic “Effective Use of Ghanaian Languages in Ghanaian movies”. Again, the festival will host the Music legend Amamdzeba Brew in a conversation on the use of Ghanaian languages in producing International standard music. This event will host participants to different traditional games, folk tales, folk music, riddle & proverb contest, exhibition/sales of materials produced in Ghanaian languages and workshops on how to write and read in the Ghanaian languages and end with a grand conversation on effective use of Ghanaian languages in journalism to prevent violence.
One of the outstanding segments of this year’s edition among many is the launch of a book oftranslated poems of Prof. Lade Wosornu into 11 studied Ghanaian Languages. The poems include Desert Rivers and The Master Brewer and the recently WAEC selected Raider of theTreasure Trove which has been translated into Ga, Dangme, Ewe, Fante, Ashanti Twi,Akuapem Twi, Dagaare, Dagbani, Nzema. This is the first of the Bureau of Ghana Languages ‘Literary Legends’ Works Translation Project geared at translating literary works of great Ghanaian authors into as many Ghanaian languages as possible and also used as a means of promoting multi-lingualism.
Performances for the day will include drama by the Obra Akan Drama group, poetry performances by different spoken word artistes, storytelling, puppetry, cultural dance performances among others.
Supporters of this year’s edition are the Ghana National Commission for UNESCO and Yumvita.
VENUE: The Premises of the Bureau of Ghana Languages behind the 37 Military Hospital, Kawukudi
DATE: 21ST FEBRUARY 2020
TIME: 10:30 am
For more information kindly contact: +233 244 174 908 or +233 571 174 908.
Source: http://unescoghana.org/sanegbaa-a-national-conversation-international-mother-language-day-2020/
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Minister lauds Ghana Barbeque Association for promoting tourism through gastronomy
The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng-Gyasi has commended the Ghana Barbeque Association (GBQA) for their continuous promotion of tourism through gastronomy.
She said she was impressed by the performance, achievements and commitment of the association to improve and promote tourism through Barbecue Sports.
Barbara Oteng-Gyasi welcoming the GBQA members to her office
The Minister stated this when Executives and some members of GBQA paid a courtesy call on her at her office last Friday, February 7. The visitors brought the Minister up to speed on their mandate to use barbeque as a sport to promote friendships while providing the platform to add value to the culinary industry.
Doris Lumor presenting the Minister with the citation
They also informed her about upcoming events which the Association will be participating in. They include the Memphis in May Festival in the US where Ghana has been selected as the honoured country. GBQA will compete in the World Barbeque Championship at the event.
GBQA will also host the first ever World Barbeque African Championship in Ghana from April 29 to May 1 this year. The event is expected to draw in participants from more than 20 countries.
Oteng-Gyasi who was presented with a citation from the World and Ghana Barbecue Associations pledged the Ministry’s support to GBQA as they participate and host the events.
President of GBQA, Prosper Kumi presenting the Minister with the citation
President of GBQA, Prosper Kumi and the African Ambassador for the World Barbeque Association, Doris Eyram Lumor led the entourage on the visit.
Source: https://voyagesafriq.com/2020/02/10/minister-lauds-ghana-barbeque-association-for-promoting-tourism-through-gastronomy/
UNWTO And Basque Culinary Centre Launch 2nd Gastronomy Tourism Start-Up Competition
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Basque Culinary Center have joined forces again for the second edition of the Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition.
After the success of the first edition, the competition has returned to identify and celebrate disruptive ideas and innovators who will lead the transformation of the sector as well as those who are making a positive impact in their local communities.
In 2019, over 300 initiatives from 84 countries were submitted. Projects ranged from new technologies, community-based tourism development initiatives, innovation software and startups focused on innovation-driven agricultural sustainability. All of them help contribute to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Gastronomy continues to prove its potential as a vital opportunity to enrich the tourism offer and stimulate economic development in destinations all around the world
For this second edition and with the support of the TUI Care Foundation, there will be two prizes. The first category will identify the initiative that is both innovative and has a sustainable social impact. The winning project will receive expert support from Basque Culinary Center (the Culinary Action! initiative) and from UNWTO. The project will be showcased at the 6th UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy. As well as receiving help in creating a work plan for the design or implementation of a pilot project, the winner will also have access to the Culinary Action! network, which offers mentoring, monitoring and the opportunity to scale-up the project using the latest digital tools available.
The other category will recognize the most disruptive gastronomy tourism startup overall. The winning company will design a pilot project alongside Basque Culinary Center and implement it with the help of its network. It will also receive economic support to cover the expenses of the acceleration process with Culinary Action!, as well as accommodation and travel, for up to 3.000 euros.
UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “With this competition, we are identifying key companies which will shape the future for food and travel. Gastronomy continues to prove its potential as a vital opportunity to enrich the tourism offer and stimulate economic development in destinations all around the world, especially in rural communities, with the potential to scale on a global level.”
Competition co-founder, Basque Culinary Center Director Joxe Mari Aizega added: “This competition allows us to identify and support entrepreneurial talent in gastronomy. There are entrepreneurs in different parts of the world who are promoting new initiatives that take advantage of the potential of gastronomy and tourism. Likewise, it allows us to provide training and to offer tools to help entrepreneurs to develop projects with the potential to transform and have a positive impact on both companies and destinations, promoting gastronomic tourism as a tool to guarantee the sustainability of the destination.”
The call for proposals for the and UNWTO and Basque Culinary Center’s Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition has been launched worldwide and will close on 6 April. The finalists of the Startups category and the winners of the Social Innovation Category will be announced on 4 May 2020.
The Startups category winner winning startup will be announced between 1 and 3 June, during the 6th Edition World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism to be held in Flanders, Belgium.
For more information and registration materials, visit https://www.gastronomytourismventures.org/en
RELATED LINKS
- Donwload PDF
- UNWTO and Basque Culinary Center launch Guidelines for the Development of Gastronomy Tourism
- Job Creation and Entrepreneurship take Centre Stage at UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tour
- Announcement of the Finalists of the 1st Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition
About Basque Culinary Center
Basque Culinary Center is a pioneering academic institution worldwide, created by seven of the top Basque chefs along with Mondragon University, and with the involvement of eleven of the most influential chefs in the world.
The main aim of Basque Culinary Center is higher education, research, innovation and promotion of gastronomy and nutrition.
Since its creation, in September 2011, we have worked to become the international benchmark in this field and also to promote gastronomy as a lever of social-economic development through the Faculty of Gastronomic Sciences and the Centre for Research and Innovation. We also develop many different promotional activities.
Media contacts:
UNWTO – Communication Department
comm@unwto.org
+ 34 91 567 8100
BCC – Communication Department
comunicacion@bculinary.com
+34 943 57 45 17
www.bculinary.com
We Are Not Descendants Of Slaves But Descendants Of Survivors – Boris Kodjoe
Celebrated Holywood African- American actor, Boris Kodjoe has voiced his opinion on the media’s depiction of Africa as a war-ridden continent. For him, the opportunity to showcase the other side of Africa to the world was not only to commemorate the 400thyear of the arrival of the first documented enslaved Africans in Virginia but to also help make that switch from the mentality of “Descendants of Slaves” to “Descendants of Survivors”.
According to him, they (Boris, his wife, his brother, Bozoma Saint John and his crew) wanted to show people the true side of Africa because the media’s narrative of Africa as a famine and war zone is quite disappointing and perpetuation of falsehood. He stated that Africa is not a country, as some people perceive. On the contrary, he stressed the fact that seven (7) out of the 10 fastest-growing economies are in Africa with a rich diversity in food, culture, music, people etc.
Speaking on the American talk show, THE REAL, the actor of Ghanaian descent asserted, “traditional media has painted a picture of Africa as a place of war and famine to Europe and it’s not true”. And we wanted to show people the True side of Africa”. He recounted all the fun they had with the huge crowds at the Afrochella festival and Afronation, which were two of the major events that took place in December in Ghana.
He made these remarks with regard while sharing his experience at the Essence Full Circle festival held in Ghana. He also spoke about visiting amazing Heritage sites in Ghana such as the Cape Coast Castle and many other heritage sites. He added that Africa was not just great for tourism but also great for business.
The Essence Full Circle festival was held in Ghana under the ‘Year of Return’ initiative, which was themed “Celebrating the African Resilience”. Thousands of people of African origin especially African Americans including several Hollywood celebrities visited Ghana for Christmas. Some of the stars include Idris Elba, Naomi Campbell, Akon, Rick Ross, T.I., Ludacris, Steve Harvey and several others from the diaspora who were all welcomed home to Ghana and will hopefully become one of the legacies which celebrate African resilience.
Also visiting Ghana in 2019 to partake in the celebration were the Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Congressional Black Caucus, Kofi Kingston and also the Prime Minister of Barbados.
2020 Edina Bakatue Homecoming launched
Brand Elmina, a destination marketing and event organising firm in partnership with the Edina Traditional Council have launched the 2020 Edina Bakatue Homecoming at Buw Enyim in Elmina. The ceremony attracted high ranking dignitaries including his highness Nana Kodwo Conduah VI, Omanhen of Edina Traditional Area, the Central Regional Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Mr. Kwame Gyasi among others.
The height of the programme was when the Edinaman anthem was played by violinist, Wilhelm Moses. This sent the entire ground into eerie silence prompting Nana Kodwo Conduah VI to remark, ‘’Indeed, the spirits of Edinaman is back’’.
Watch Exclusive Video of Edinaman Anthem