Ghana’s tourism sector generated an estimated US$4.34 billion in receipts in 2025, following more than 1.3 million international tourist arrivals, Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts Minister Abla Dzifa Gomashie has announced.

According to the Minister, 1,303,962 international visitors entered Ghana in 2025, up from 1,288,804 recorded in 2024, signalling a modest but sustained recovery in the country’s tourism industry.

Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on August 10, 2026, Abla Dzifa Gomashie said domestic tourism also recorded growth during the period, with visits rising by seven per cent from 1.68 million in 2024 to 1.79 million in 2025.

The Minister said the country’s leading tourist destinations attracted significant numbers, with Ghana’s 10 most visited sites collectively recording 1,377,588 visits in 2025.

The sites included the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, Kakum National Park, Bunso Arboretum Eco Park, Cape Coast Castle, Manhyia Palace, Kumasi Zoo, Accra Zoo, Elmina Castle, Shai Hills Resource Reserve and Aburi Botanical Garden.

Abla Dzifa Gomashie, however, disclosed that only three of these major attractions fall directly under the management of the Ministry, while other institutions oversee the remaining sites.

She said the figures underline the economic and cultural value of Ghana’s heritage destinations and the need to improve their management, preservation and visitor experience.

Among the projects highlighted were the reopening of the Nationalism Park, completion of the Tano Boase Sacred Grove Project, and efforts to strengthen management arrangements at the Anomabo Garden of Return and Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm.

The Ministry has also launched “Accra by Night”, an initiative designed to make the capital a more active tourism destination after sunset while creating additional business opportunities for restaurants, transport operators, creatives and other small enterprises.

The programme forms part of efforts to support President John Dramani Mahama’s 24-Hour Economy agenda by creating more economic activity beyond conventional working hours.

On Ghana’s cultural heritage, Gomashie said the government is preparing to introduce three more standardised orthographies for Ghanaian languages before the end of 2026.

The latest figures suggest that Ghana’s tourism industry is becoming an increasingly important source of foreign exchange while domestic tourism continues to expand, placing greater pressure on authorities to ensure that the country’s major attractions are properly preserved and developed.