Dr. Mohammed Awal, the Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, has defended his department’s attempt to promote “funeral tourism” by claiming that because Ghanaians value funerals, doing so will aid the local economy wherever a funeral is performed in the nation.
He claims that the ministry will provide buses to transport visitors for free to funeral grounds wherever they are held in Ghana so they can witness the cultural performances and support the various tourist attractions, local restaurants, and other points of interest in the area.
Speaking at a Kumasi event about “funeral tourism,” Dr. Awal stated that his ministry is collaborating with the Ghana Tourism Authority and other stakeholders to make the concept a reality.
It may be recalled that his deputy minister, Mark Okraku-Mantey, alluded to the effort in an interview with Andy Dosty on Joy Entertainment’s Daybreak Hitz last year. However, several Ghanaians mocked the notion, calling it absurd.
He claimed that his boss had thought of the plan to promote Ghana’s rich cultural heritage through funerals.
He went on to say that the recent cultural performances that go along with funerals in Ghana have the ability to persuade visitors to go to different regions of the nation to see them.
Okraku-Mantey also said that whereas Christians retain the corpse for a longer period before burial and all kinds of rites are conducted during the funeral that may be of interest to visitors, Muslims bury the deceased on the same day of death or just a day after.
There are things you [Christians] do that can entice people to visit a specific place, and you [Christians] maintain your bodies [corpses].
“…whether we like it or not, in the Ashanti Region, a funeral is a big deal,” the deputy minister said.
Now that it appears the ministry is determined to put the proposal into action and is moving to do so in earnest, sensitization campaigns are being launched to win over Ghanaians.
