Ghana’s Return Tours Tap Celebrity African Americans – And Overlook a Reality
Photo Credit: Fishermen on Cape Coast, Ghana, in a pre-pandemic image. Unsplash / Hello Lightbulb
Skift Take
Ghana’s push to attract more African Americans to visit and invest makes sense, but using celebrities to drive the campaign is problematic. Not least, two years of pandemic means residents will increasingly scrutinize the tourism sector and demand a transparent, long-term plan to benefit host communities.
In December 2020, the Ghanaian government launched the "Beyond the Return" campaign as a follow-up to its record-breaking Year of Return initiative, which brought 1.1 million visitors and $3.3 billion in tourism revenues in 2019.
Covid predictably stifled the start of this next phase, designed as a ten-year strategy to attract African Americans to visit as well as invest in Ghana. That didn't stop the Ghanaian government and its tourism board, however, from continuing to market to affluent African Americans as the recovery continues. And they're doing it by tapping into the power of African American celebrities.
Superstar buzz combined with a strong heritage narrative to sell a destination isn’t a new marketing tactic. But in a pandemic world in which Ghanaian communities have been hit hard, African American celebrities touting their lavish vacations online — including photos with the president of Ghana — has sparked controversy, first reported in Ok
