State of the nation address and tourism priorities in Ghana—a contextual analysis

Tourism development tends to be seen as a largely private sector driven activity. However, especially in developing countries the state continues to wield considerable power in the governance and policy arena of tourism. Thus the priority given to the tourism sector through state policies and the statements of government officials is considered as key in shaping tourism development. This paper offers a brief analysis of the level of priority given to the tourism sector in Ghana through a contextual analysis of the President's yearly state of the nation address given between 2010 and 2014. The findings show that while overall national [tourism] development plans are important, the policy speeches of government officials provide a glimpse into the immediate policy concerns of the state regarding tourism development. In some instances there are inconsistencies between policy objectives in national development plans and government's policy speeches. This research therefore highlights the importance of assessing policy speeches in addition to the analysis of existing tourism development plans.