Caterers in the informal sector in the Northern Region have been trained on customer service engagement to enhance their businesses ahead of the Christmas season.

The training, which was aimed at providing quality services to customers as well as developing strategies to sustain their businesses, saw workers from the informal sector such as local food joints, chop bars, restaurants, and drinking spots participating.

The programme organized by the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) with support from the Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture and the Ghana Tourism of Federation (GHATOF) and other partners also sought to educate the informal sector on how to manage tourists expected to visit Ghana in December this year.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of GTA, Mr. Ekow Sampson in an interview noted that, in 2019, about 1.1 million tourist arrivals were recorded in Ghana which helped to generate about $3.3 billion dollars for the tourism industry from the Year of Return initiative.

“We have implemented a number of programmes including the Beyond the Return which is a 10-year programme. Out of it, we have also come out with the December in Gh and for the past three years, it has been one of the major drivers of tourists in Ghana. Due to that, Ghana has been named one of the holiday destinations in the world,” he said.

A representative of the Director of the Center for National Culture, Tamale, Antoinette Dzorgbenyuie Lesta who commended GTA for the initiative also called on the caterers to improve their services using the knowledge learnt from the training.