Authors

1. Mr. Manish Mittal
2. Mrs. Roberta Dawson-Amoah
3. Mr. Kwesi Benyi

Affiliation

• Lecturer, Department of Management, Academic City College, Adabraka, City Accra, Country Ghana, West Africa
• Chief Quality Assurance Officer, Ghana Tourism Authority, City Accra, Country Ghana, West Africa.
• Lecturer, Department of Management, Academic City College, City Accra, Country Ghana, West Africa

Abstract

The study focuses on assessing the brand knowledge of Ghana as a tourism destination. It envisages identifying whether Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) projected image and tourists’ perceived image of Ghana are same, in order for the country to achieve her vision of becoming a leading tourism destination in West Africa. The study revealed that tourists choose from a variety of information sources such as word-of-mouth and marketer-controlled sources such as brochures and official websites of tourism authorities.
The study envisages to assess Ghana’s brand knowledge as a tourism destination and to identify whether Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) projected image and tourists’ perceived image of Ghana are same, if the country is to achieve her vision of becoming a leading tourist destination in West Africa. The study reveals that tourists choose from a variety of information sources such as word-of-mouth and marketer-controlled sources such as brochures and official websites of tourism authorities. It came out that top of mind cue for tourists were ‘peaceful place’, followed by ‘football’, ‘friendly people’ and ‘culture/heritage’ respectively. This contradicts the response from the Marketing Director at GTA that the three major attractions are historical heritage (castles), cultural heritage (kente) and ecotourism (kakum national park).Therefore the induced image as projected by GTA does not influence organic brand images on tourists’ image formation on Ghana. In the minds of all the three industry players (GTA, Tour Operators and Tourists), Senegal is the main competitor in the consideration set of tourists who come to Ghana. To the tourists, Ghana is safe, exciting and attractive, has fair weather, has unique attractions, is suitable for children and residents are trendy and communicate easily with tourists. However, more than fifty percent of tourists, majority of GTA Staff and tour operators sampled were of the opinion that the tourism facilities and infrastructure need to be improved to ensure quality service delivery.
There is therefore the need for officials of GTA as well as tour operators to re-brand and position Ghana as the only choice for tourists which Senegal appeal to. Also, advertising strategies for the tourism industry must highlight features about the country’s tourism that will appeal to tourist with children. Officials at Ghana Tourism Authority must re-strategize to incorporate football into the country’s attractions instead of the existing focus on culture/heritage. Tourism facilities and infrastructure need to be improved to ensure quality service delivery.

Keywords

Brand knowledge, brand awareness, brand image, , tourism,, Ghana.

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