Ghana’s Top 10 Attractions Draw 1.38m Visits as Tourism’s $4.34bn Economi

Ghana’s 10 most visited tourist attractions recorded nearly 1.38 million visits in 2025, highlighting the growing economic significance of the country’s visitor economy while exposing the concentration of tourism activity within a relatively small number of destinations.

The leading attractions registered 1,377,588 visits during the year, accounting for about 77 per cent of all tourism visits, according to figures disclosed by the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Dzifa Abla Gomashie.

The numbers come as Ghana seeks to position tourism as a more important source of foreign exchange, employment and private-sector investment, reducing an economic dependence on traditional commodity exports such as gold, cocoa and oil.

The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in Accra was the country’s most visited attraction, followed by Kakum National Park and Bonsu Arboretum/Eco Park.

Cape Coast Castle ranked fourth, with Manhyia Palace in Kumasi taking fifth place. Kumasi Zoo, Accra Zoo, Elmina Castle, Shai Hills Resource Reserve and Aburi Botanical Gardens completed the top 10.

The distribution demonstrates the continued commercial importance of Ghana’s historical, ecological and cultural assets. But the concentration of more than three-quarters of recorded visits among just 10 destinations also raises a broader economic question for policymakers: how can Ghana convert rising tourist numbers into greater spending, longer stays and wider economic activity?

That challenge has become increasingly important as the tourism sector expands.

Ghana recorded about 1.3 million international tourist arrivals in 2025, compared with more than 1.2 million the previous year. International tourism generated an estimated $4.34bn during the year, making the sector an increasingly important source of foreign-exchange receipts.

Domestic tourism also strengthened, with visits rising 7 per cent from 1.68 million in 2024 to 1.79 million in 2025.

Together, the figures suggest Ghana’s tourism industry is developing into a more significant component of the services economy. But the economic return from that growth will depend increasingly on how much value the country can capture from each visitor rather than simply the number of people passing through its attractions.

Tourism’s economic impact extends considerably beyond entrance fees.

A visitor to Kakum or Cape Coast Castle, for example, potentially creates demand for hotels, restaurants, transport operators, tour guides, retailers, entertainment businesses and local producers. Spending therefore moves through several layers of the economy, supporting employment and household incomes while generating taxes and other government revenues.

This multiplier effect means investments in tourism infrastructure can have economic consequences well beyond individual attractions.

Improved roads, sanitation, broadband connectivity, digital payment systems, security and hospitality infrastructure around high-traffic destinations could encourage tourists to remain longer and spend more within local economies.

The concentration of visitor traffic, however, also points to an uneven distribution of tourism income.

With 77 per cent of recorded visits concentrated among the top 10 attractions, a large number of Ghana’s cultural, historical and ecological destinations appear to capture a comparatively small share of the country’s tourism traffic.

Diversifying visitor flows could therefore become as important as increasing total arrivals.

Creating tourism circuits linking established attractions with lesser-known destinations could spread spending into additional communities and stimulate private investment in accommodation, restaurants and transport services outside Ghana’s principal tourism centres.

The Central Region provides one of the clearest opportunities. Kakum National Park, Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle all rank among the country’s 10 most visited attractions, creating the foundations for a tourism cluster capable of supporting a wider ecosystem of businesses.

Similar opportunities exist around Accra, Kumasi and the Eastern Region.

For Ghana, tourism also offers an important avenue for export diversification. Unlike merchandise exports, tourism effectively brings foreign consumers into the domestic economy, allowing hotels, restaurants, transport companies and cultural businesses to earn revenues ultimately financed by foreign expenditure.

The $4.34bn generated from international tourism in 2025 therefore represents more than hospitality income. It provides foreign-exchange inflows that can support Ghana’s external accounts while creating economic activity across sectors that are generally more labour-intensive than extractive industries.

Yet headline tourism receipts alone do not determine the industry’s developmental impact.

The composition of spending matters. The greater the proportion of tourist expenditure retained by locally owned hotels, restaurants, transport companies, farms, creative businesses and retailers, the stronger the transmission of tourism growth into domestic employment and incomes.

That makes local supply chains increasingly important.

Hotels sourcing food from Ghanaian farmers, tourism operators employing local guides and attractions creating markets for domestic crafts and creative products can increase the amount of tourism revenue retained within the economy.

The rise in domestic tourism is similarly significant. While domestic travellers do not generate foreign exchange, a stronger local tourism market can provide businesses with a more stable year-round revenue base and reduce their dependence on international travel cycles.

The latest visitor figures consequently present Ghana with both an opportunity and a policy challenge.

The country has demonstrated that its flagship destinations can attract substantial traffic. The next phase of tourism development will require converting that footfall into greater economic value — increasing visitor spending, extending stays, attracting private investment and distributing tourism revenues more widely across communities.

For an economy seeking new sources of jobs, foreign exchange and non-commodity growth, the economic prize lies not merely in attracting more tourists, but in ensuring that every additional visit creates a deeper footprint across the Ghanaian economy.