They have thus called on the GTA to come out with innovations to make the annual Kwahu Easter festivities more relevant, instead of the current situation where revellers are only flown from the Odweanoma Mountain at Atibie to the encircled area before landing at the Nkawkaw Sports Stadium.

The chiefs expressed their concerns about the paragliding festival when the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) launched the 2024 paragliding festival at Abene, the traditional headquarters of the paramountcy last Monday.

The Krontihene of the traditional area, Nana Simpeh Owiredu III, who represented the Omanhene of the Kwahu Traditional Area, Daasebre Akuamoah Agyapong, said apart from lack of innovations at the festival to make it more relevant and attractive for both local and foreign tourists, there were no social amenities to help boost tourism in the area.

The launch was also in partnership with the Kwahu Traditional Council, the Kwahu South Municipal Assembly and the Kwahu Tourism Initiative.

Impact, bad roads

Nana Owiredu III stated that for instance, it would be ideal for the GTA to put up the needed social amenities such as a modern community centre which would be of benefit for public gatherings during festivities and also for the locals.

He stressed that flying by gliders during the festival, after which they go away, was not serving any purpose for the indigenes and communities.

"If this does not change and innovations are brought in, there will be a time that people will no longer patronise the paragliding festival," he stated.

The Krontihene said apart from that, no Kwahu indigene had been trained to be part of the gliders and that most of the pilots were foreigners.

That, he indicated also made it unattractive for the locals to fly.

With regards to the road network in the area, Nana Owiredu III noted that most of them were in bad shape, especially the roads linking the paragliding site at Atibie and Abene.

He stated that for the promotion of tourism in the Kwahu area to be impactful, it was important to rehabilitate the roads.

International event

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in charge of operations of the GTA, Ekow Sampson, who launched this year's paragliding festival, said the festival, the 17th in the series, had become an international event attracting 1,000 tourists into the country for memorable experiences.

He said the festival was playing a pivotal role in boosting domestic tourism, creating opportunities for jobs such as the sale of artefacts by residents.

As part of the planning and preparation, Mr Sampson said the GTA had also met with stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality value chain, as well as other allied agencies to discuss pertinent issues with regards to this year’s event.

He called on the media to collaborate effectively with the GTA and the sector ministry to promote the festival and tourism in general to attract more tourists to boost the economy.