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EKGS Holds 22nd Graduation

Mrs Efua Goode-Arthur leads inspections at cake exhibition

Mrs. Efua Goode-Arthur, Director of EKGS Culinary Institute has asked operators in the hospitality business in the country to redefine their services in the face of the world financial crisis.
“It has always been held that the more foreign tourists come to our shores, the more we earn by way of tourism but the foreign tourists are now hard up so they are staying put or engaging in internal tourism in their own countries”, she said.

Mrs. Goode Arthur said this at the graduation ceremony last Saturday in Accra of 102 students of the institute who had undertaken a six-months course in floral decorations and culinary skills.

She said since the hospitality industry, with its culinary sub-sector, depends on the availability of money in people’s pocket to thrive, “if that condition is lacking as we are experiencing now, then the likelihood that the industry will collapse is there.

Mrs. Goode-Arthur said to address the challenges in the industry, there is the need to start building domestic tourism “so that we may not have to depend on foreign tourists”.

“One way we can do this is to set up tourist clubs in our second-cycle schools to inculcate the essence of sightseeing and its benefits in people right from their youthful days so that they will grow with it,” she said.

She said such tourist clubs could undertake educational trips to places of interest both for educational purposes and for pleasure and ultimately help foster national unity and cohesion.

Mrs. Goode-Arthur said another way to enhance the performance of the culinary sector in the country is to “eat what we grow and can what we can’t. “This is where our industry can play a leading role in sensitising our people on the need to patronise local foods by highlighting the qualities of the local food items,” she said.

She said instead of exporting fruits in its raw form, industrialists should consider adding value to then to earn more and at the same time create employment opportunities for the teeming youth leaving school every year.

Mrs. Goode-Arthur said “it is not economically prudent to import all manner of fruit juices packaged as drinks when we have abundant fruits in the country.”

She said Ghana can use the current global financial crisis to its advantage to propel the country onto the global stage if prudent measures are put in place, saying, “Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and a host of those referred to as Asian Tigers took advantage of the Asian crisis of the 1980s to propel their economies to the heights which they have reached”.

Mr. Joseph Adomako, an official at the Ministry of Tourism, speaking on behalf of the sector minister, Mrs. Juliana Azumah Mensah, said in view of the fact that foreign remittances will reduce as a result of the global financial crisis, the government will encourage consumption of local staples and food in order to save more foreign currencies.

“This way, we can spend our scarce foreign currency on more crucial imports and infrastructural development,” he said.

Mr. Adomako said the culinary industry can play a key role by projecting local food and the use of local produce to prepare dishes that can attract even foreigners. He asked practitioners in the culinary industry to see the present situation as an opportunity to move away from foreign recipes and preparations and come up with cost-effective substitutes from local produce.

“When they do that, not only will they cut down cost but they will also help our farmers to produce more to keep our economy going,” he said. Mr. Adomako said the Tourism Ministry will play a supervisory role to effectively facilitate the development of a proactive tourism industry in the country.

Source : Ghanaian Times