The sixth edition of AccraWeizo West Africa Travel and Tourism Market began on Wednesday with a familiarisation tour of some tourists site in Akosombo.
AccraWeizo, a travel expo organized by Akwaaba African Travel Market in partnership with Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), seeks to grow seamless travel in West Africa.
The sixth edition will feature selected experts and stakeholders in the tourism, travel and allied business sector to identify, deliberate and proffer solutions to some of the barriers of seamless travel in West Africa.
At The Royal Senchi Hotel and Resort, it’s General Manager, Gerard Schraven, said no fewer than 2,700 Nigerians had visited the resort in the last 10 years of its operations.
According to Schraven, N419 million was generated from Nigerians who visited the resort for leisure, honeymoon, wedding and birthday parties.
“Nigeria is second to Ghana in terms of patronage statistics, we have enjoyed patronage from Nigeria well enough, from banks and majorly corporate organisations.
“We have accommodated over 2,700 Nigerians in the last 10 years, they love what we offer because of the traditional African setting of the resort and giving full consideration to environmental sustainability.
“We want more of Nigerians’ patronage and we have our conference venues, swimming pool, fitness center, spa and salon, playground, tennis ground, nine-hole golf course and more,” he said.
Also, Emmanuel Mensah, Sales and Marketing Manager of the facility, said the resort is the first four-star luxury resort in Ghana.
“It stands on 35 acres of lush greenery with a magnificent view of the Volta River.
” The Royal Senchi is known as West Africa’s most romantic hotel destination. We are also an ideal venue for business meetings, conferences, and other special events.
” We offer a unique blend of fauna, flora, traditional architecture, and modernity of the highest standards.
“We have 84 rooms, 74 are standard rooms, nine suites and one presidential room for the Very Important Personalities (VIP).
“Due to the quality of our services, we have won a number of coveted awards,” he said.
Mensah urged more Africans to visit the resort because of the therapeutic nature of most of the materials used in the construction of the facility.
He said instead of the usual cement and glass for the construction, woods and rafia produce were used, for mental and psychological healing to visitors.
He said additional facilities would be added to the existing ones to further attract more local and international tourists.
“We are looking at adding much more activities for tourists on the resort, like ziplining, playground for kids, canopy walkway, luxury tents, additional swimming pool and more.
“Maintaining this resort has not been easy, we engage in serious maintainance annually, serious hardwork goes into this, we import treated thatch from South Africa every year, to replace the old ones.
“We are committed to greenery and environmental issues, also very soon we will stop supplying plastic bottled water, but glass bottled water,” he said.
The familiarisation tour was also extended to the Volta River.