Travel Influencers Can Help Spotlight Ghana’s Hidden Tourism Gems – Maame Ama Boa Effah

Travel influencers and digital content creators could play a major role in promoting lesser-known tourist attractions across Ghana and helping to diversify the country’s tourism destinations, according to Maame Ama Boa Effah, an Intern at the Corporate Affairs Department of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA).

In an article titled “Off the Map: How Travel Influencers Can Put a Spotlight on Ghana’s Hidden Tourism Gems,” Maame Ama Boa Effah argued that Ghana’s tourism sector must look beyond its already popular attractions and use digital platforms to draw attention to hidden tourism sites across the country.

Her call comes amid renewed discussions about the development of major cultural and tourism facilities in Ghana.

She cited recent reports about planned transformations at the National Theatre in Accra, following bilateral engagements between the Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and stakeholders of the theatre.

According to her, the National Theatre remains one of Ghana’s major cultural and creative arts facilities, but similar attention and investment are needed at other important cultural centres across the country.

She specifically mentioned the Centre for National Culture in Cape Coast, describing it as an important event centre that hosts theatrical productions and regional programmes but has repeatedly faced calls from community stakeholders for infrastructural upgrades.

Maame Ama Boa Effah noted that the challenges confronting the Centre for National Culture are not isolated, arguing that several second-tier tourism destinations across Ghana continue to struggle with inadequate infrastructure and limited budgets.

She also raised concerns about the concentration of tourist visits around major urban centres.

Referring to Ghana’s 2025 tourism report, she observed that many of the country’s most visited tourist attractions were concentrated in Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast, raising questions about the visibility and development of tourism destinations in other regions.

She cited the Aburi Gardens as an example of a well-known destination while drawing attention to lesser-known attractions such as the Oboadaka Waterfalls, also located around the Aburi area.

“Everybody has heard of the Aburi Gardens, but what about the Oboadaka Waterfalls, which is also near Aburi?” she asked, highlighting the need to bring relatively overlooked attractions into the national tourism conversation.

Maame Ama Boa Effah believes travel influencers can help bridge the visibility gap by using social media to showcase destinations that are often absent from tourists’ itineraries.

She pointed to the growing influence of social media on consumer decisions, noting that people around the world spend significant amounts of time on their phones and that a substantial portion of social media users are influenced by what they encounter on their feeds.

She therefore urged the tourism sector to take lessons from modern businesses, particularly those in the hospitality industry, which increasingly use digital creators and influencers as brand ambassadors.

According to her, strategic partnerships between the Ghana Tourism Authority and selected travel influencers could help promote both established tourist attractions and less-travelled destinations.

She proposed that influencers could be selected from each of Ghana’s regions and, under the guidance of the respective regional offices of the Ghana Tourism Authority, travel to tourism sites within their regions.

The creators would document their experiences through photographs, videos and other forms of digital content, while promoting the attractions to their audiences.

She further suggested that the initiative could incorporate the “Experience Ghana, Share Ghana” hashtag to create a coordinated digital campaign around Ghana’s tourism offerings.

According to her, such an approach could create greater visibility for destinations outside the traditional tourism hotspots while generating interest among both domestic and international travellers.

She believes the possibilities for Ghana’s tourism industry are extensive if digital creators are effectively integrated into tourism promotion.

However, she cautioned that social media content should ultimately serve as an invitation for people to experience the destinations physically.

“As beautiful as these places look through the screen, no pixel can capture the true effervescence these sites have to offer in person,” she said.

Maame Ama Boa Effah is an Intern with the Corporate Affairs Department of the Ghana Tourism Authority.