The Kwahu Traditional Council together with the Kwahu Tourism and Marketing Board has on Wednesday, March 16, successfully launched the much-anticipated 2022 Kwahu Easter in a grand style.
The event under the theme: Kwahu Easter, exploring tourism opportunities and potentials for an inclusive growth for national development was highly climaxed by dignitaries from the Kwahu Traditional Council, officials from the Ghana Tourism Authority, top security officials and the corporate sector.
At the launching of the Easter at the Palace of the Kwahuman Hene Daasebre Akuamoah Agyapong || In Abene-Kwahu, Nana Bonsu Ayirepey Ababio who doubles as the Chief of Pepease Kwahu and the Kyidomhene for the Kwahu land respectively, represented the Kwahuman Hene as the Chairman for the launch.
He said the widely accepted Kwahu Easter was solely adopted by the Kwahu people, hence more can be done to improve the quality of the festival.
“First of all, we thank God for making this possible. Kwahu Easter who has been accepted by everyone was created by us, we did it and we can do more”, he said.
Nana Ayirepey, being flanked by the MCE’s in Kwahu and the CEO of Ghana Tourism Authority as well as the Eastern Regional Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority duly declared the Kwahu Easter 2022 launched.
Nana Ayirepey urged the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) which was constituted by the President of the Kwahu Traditional Council, Daasebre Akuamoah Agyapong || to engage in consistent meetings to ensure new developments are enacted to improve the festival.
He also proposed that, if necessary, the Kwahu Easter should not be an annual festival ritual but rather an all year – round tourist festival to attract people to invest in Kwahu.
However, the Chairman cautioned that all persons willing to travel from afar to visit Kwahu this Easter must to ensure that they have taken the Covid-19 jab as protocols at the festival will be strictly enforced.
In addition, he established that security forces will be heavily present to provide maximum protection for the masses that will throng the Kwahu land.
“I will urge the security agencies to tighten their belt because in such a huge gathering, people will resort to all forms of gangsterism and other forms of social vices” he said.
Taking his turn to address the gathering, the Chief Executive Officer for the Ghana Tourism Authority, Mr. Kwasi Agyemang acknowledged the Kwahu Traditional Council, Municipal and district chief executives for their relentless efforts in making sure this year’s Easter comes into reality.
“Traditional leaders, my colleague honourables, we are grateful for your support and engagement and warm welcome offered us in our stakeholders meeting anytime we call on you”.
He said, in Ghana, Kwahu Easter is the biggest tourism trigger in the country. He reiterated that the Easter pulls a lot of people into the country and increase domestic tourism travel as well.
“If we want to talk about tourism in Ghana, Kwahu Easter is one of the biggest tourism festival in Ghana and is more predominant bringing a lot of people into the country both internationally and domestic wise”, he added.
The CEO recall that all events organizers are cordially engaged in their stakeholders’ meetings to ensure proper accountability and fair attention for all events in the block.
In addition, he established that Kwahu Marathon has also been introduced to the festival. He reiterated that the paragliding would start even before the Friday. He also added that a lot of musical, religious and cultural activities have also been recognized to partake in the festival.
In this year’s Easter, a fee of Gh500 will be charged per a passenger to access the parachute whiles a GH50.00 fee will be charged for Covid-19 PCTR test, bringing the sum to GH550.00 per person after which a covid-19 test certificate will be issued to the passenger.
“This year’s paragliding cost per person will be pegged at Gh500.00. But that’s not all, we are going to be conducting Covid-19 test before the passenger will be allowed to access the parachute. A fee of GH50.00 will be taken to the PCTR test and we will issue an instant certificate to the passenger, so in all total, we are looking at GH550.00 per passenger”, he stated.
At the gathering, the CEO said, a lot of upgrading and redevelopment of the Odweanoma paragliding site has taken place, bringing the facility to well organized and composed edifice as compared to the previous years.
At a separate with the media at the Nyarkoa Ba Nyarkoa hotel in Obo -Kwahu, executives of the Kwahu Tourism and Marketing Board laid down further measures been put in place to uplift the success of the Kwahu Festival in the subsequent years.
Speaking to a gathering, chief executive officer for Dotcom events, Mr. Kwasi Boateng said, the board has introduced a sticker which will be accessible to all persons and corporate bodies. He said, the sticker is a new implementation which is going to address the heavy traffic during the Easter festival. Explaining the modus of operandi of the new technology, he reiterated that, the acquisition of the stickers will be used to provide an escort to quickly allow and give quick access to climb the mountain.
In addition, the board revealed that four “Park N Ride” courts will be created for car owners to park and climb the mountain in order to ease the human and vehicular traffic. However, a hotline has been created for persons willing to access the sticker to call through – 0552581188 and 0545062936.
Dignitaries present tat the gathering were the Obo -Kwahu Gyaasehene Nana Okrah Baadu, chief of Tafo -Kwahu and the chief executive officer of Niew Tree Ghana limited, Dr. Bernard Abeiku Arthur and other dignitaries.
The Kwahu Easter has been a major boost for and a source of employment for most people living in Kwahu especially the hospitality industry in the area.
It is estimated that the Kwahu Easter draws approximately 3.1 million people to Kwahu alone, making it one of the most welcomed and recognized festivals in the country.