The NSS, which is the initiator, is deploying about 700 people to various tourism and hospitality facilities in the country for their mandatory national service.

“We have done thorough preparatory works and are sending qualified professionals in areas such as catering, hospitality and ICT to hotels and other tourist sites to boost the industry,” the Executive Director of the NSS, Mr Osei Assibey Antwi, told the Daily Graphic after the launch of the programme in Accra.

The GTA will take the national service persons through capacity-building programmes in customer service and communication.

According to Mr Antwi, there was the need for the tourism sector to be supported to boost the economy.

Other collaborations

He further said the secretariat was also collaborating with Agri-Impact Consult, a firm that produces vegetables for export.

About 500 service persons had been assigned to understudy the firm for the duration of the service year, after which they would be given greenhouses to manage and plant vegetables for export, he explained.

Another batch of 720 service persons had been assigned to Techlab, an IT institution, to be trained in website building and application creation and management under the government’s digitalisation agenda, Mr Antwi added.

Furthermore, he said, an agreement had been reached with the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) for the training of 100 service persons in entrepreneurial skills.

Impact of COVID-19

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GTA, Mr Akwasi Agyeman, said the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the tourism sector, saying it was yet to fully recover.

He said the training and the orientation to be given to the service persons were to ensure that they made a positive impact on the sector.

He added that the programme was designed as a sector skills project to build interest in the industry and also create tourism entrepreneurs.

For his part, the Director of Human Resource at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr Vitus Otto Langmagne, expressed appreciation to the NSS for the initiative, which he said would help boost the sector.

He advised the beneficiary service persons to take their work seriously by putting in their best.