This was made known by the Deputy Minister for the sector, Mark Okraku-Mantey in an interview with Andy Dosty on Joy Entertainment’s Daybreak Hitz.
According to him, his boss, the Minister for Tourism, Arts & Culture Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal has come up with the idea of using funerals to sell Ghana’s rich culture to the world.
He said cultural displays that accompany Ghanaian funerals lately have the potential to influence tourists to visit the various parts of the country to witness them.
Explaining what he referred to as “funeral tourism”, Okraku-Mantey said Muslims bury the dead on the same day of demise or just a day after but Christians preserve the corpse for longer before burial and all forms of rituals are performed during the funeral that may be of interest to tourists.
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“You [Christians] keep your bodies [corpse], and there are things you do that can attract people to go to a particular town,” the deputy minister said.
He cited the Ashanti region where funerals are deemed a big deal and are characterized by various cultural displays.
“…whether we like it or not, in the Ashanti Region, a funeral is a big deal," he added.
Meanwhile, the revelation has not gone down well with some Ghanaians on social media. They think the ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture is bereft of ideas to boost tourism.