Daily Podcast: Ghana’s Celebrity Tourism Push

Skift Daily Briefing Podcast

Listen to the day’s top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday.

Presented by Criteo.

Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast discusses the complexity of Ghana’s latest tourism initiative, the boom in international tourism to Miami, and a surprise acquisition in the travel loyalty space. 

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Episode Notes

While the airline industry continues to recover from the pandemic, one U.S. airport in particular is standing out as a gateway for foreign visitors — Miami International Airport, reports Contributor Ted Reed.

Miami welcomed a little more than 13 million international travelers last year, ranking first in the U.S. and 11th globally, according to figures released this month by Airports Council International. Reed writes the city benefited significantly from being close to short-haul destinations in the Caribbean and a key hub for South America, one of the global regions that recovered the fastest. Arrival numbers have also been boosted by carriers such as American Airlines and Spirit Airlines increasing or launching service to the airport. The city welcomed in total roughly 37 million air passengers in 2021, a figure that doubled the mark from 2020.

In addition, Miami was the busiest cargo airport in the U.S. as well as the ninth busiest in the world overall last year. The airport handled 2.7 million tons of freight in 2021, surpassing the record it set the previous year by 17 percent.

Next, Ghana is using African American celebrities to promote itself as a tourist destination in its Beyond the Return campaign. But Editor-at-Large Lebawit Lily Girma writes that utilizing those prominent figures to drive tourism has emerged as problematic due to concerns the campaign could cause more inequity and tensions in the country.

Ghana’s government launched its Beyond the Return initiative in December 2020 following its enormously successful Year of Return campaign the previous year. The ongoing initiative is part of its strategy to attract visitors from the lucrative African American market. But Ghanaian tourism executives have expressed uncertainty about, among other things, whether the campaign will improve the lives of those in host communities, with Girma writing that non-Ghanaians have been blamed for driving up the cost of living in Accra.

Kwame Gasu, co-founder of advertising and digital marketing startup Detalon Africa, believes Ghana’s use of African American celebrities to promote the country is a terrific strategy. However, Gasu argues that tourism revenue needs to be reinvested to improve the country’s main attractions. He cited the Kwame Nkrumah Museum, which is dedicated to the country’s first president, as one location desperately in need of a significant refurbishment.

We end with major news from PlusGrade. The Montreal-based company, which helps airline and cruise lines increase ancillary revenue, has announced a deal to buy Points.com for $385 million in cash, reports Executive Editor Dennis Schaal.

The executive team and board at Points.com, a Toronto-based company that powers airline loyalty programs among other services, support the deal, which is subject to customary regulatory approvals. CEOs from both corporations have already issued statements touting the benefits of the deal.