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The architect of the strategy for the year of return, President Akufo-Addo, and the First Lady received international celebrities in his office at Flagstaff House
When some of the best-known faces of the African diaspora arrived for a recent vacation in Accra, Ghana, it simply looked like another gathering of celebrities.
Actors, including Idris Elba, worked side by side with supermodel Naomi Campbell, television sports presenter Mike Hill and author Luvvie Ajayi.
Behind this meeting between box-office stars, fashion collectors and great creators, lies a targeted and ambitious strategy to make Ghana a major tourist destination.
The country has recently unveiled a 15 – year tourism plan that aims to increase the annual number of tourists to Ghana from 1 million to 8 million per year by 2027.
According to the plan, Ghana's tourism industry is expected to generate $ 8.3 billion annually by 2027, in addition to the benefits that flow from it.
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VIP guests attended the events chaired by Ghana's President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the architect of the plan to boost tourism and diversify the country's economy by addressing his diaspora, while guests have taken part in conferences, festivities and travels around the country. its unique and sobering heritage.
The primary objective of the festival was to strengthen the links between Ghana and the African continent and those of African descent living elsewhere.
It's been 400 years since the first African slaves were taken from countries like Ghana to continental America, marking the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade route.
This moment is based on the first recorded landing of a ship carrying Africans to Virginia in August 1619.
It is estimated that 75% of the slave cells on the west coast of Africa are in Ghana. Millions of people were taken away and transported by ships leaving Ghanaian ports.
Boris Khodjo (center) with international celebrities at a star hotel in Accra
Return year
The announcement of the year of President Akufo-Addo's return underscored Ghana's tragic legacy as a reason for the descendants of the diaspora to return and familiarize themselves with this chapter of the country. history.
Celebrities who attended the Full Circle festival were taken on guided tours of the slave dungeons.
"Every person of color must participate in this pilgrimage," said actor and co-organizer Boris Kodjoe, of Ghanaian origin.
"They have to experience this trip and get in touch with their emotional legacy, go through the dungeons and see the 'door of no return'," he told CNN.
Marketing rock star Bozoma Saint John – who has a series of hits such as Beyonce's half-time Super Bowl – worked with Kodjoe, inviting 100 of the most influential members of the African diaspora to party with them. at the festival at Christmas and New Year.
Saint John, who works for the global media conglomerate "Endeavor" and previously held senior roles with Uber and Apple Music, said the project was important to him.
"As long as you have melanin and are looking for a return to Africa, it's essential," she told CNN.
"I really felt that I wanted to show people the country I know and love.
I take it as a personal mission and will use my professional weight to help the mission, "she added.
Saint John says returning members of the diaspora can look forward to joy during their trip to Ghana as well as at times of solemnity.
Skyscrapers and restaurants feature prominently in promotional material.
"All the fun things you can do in Nice, Bali, Ibiza, you can do it here in Ghana too," she added.
The Full Circle Festival, which featured celebrities, was the beginning of another year of President Akufo-Addo's announced return in September 2018.
Birth Journey
Speaking about the coming year at the National Press Club in Washington, President Akufo-Addo said that Ghana would open its arms even further to welcome our brothers and sisters in what would become a real return trip for the African family to the world.
The year of return includes a music festival, an investment conference for Ghanaians from the diaspora and the "Right to Return" initiative encouraging African Americans to apply for citizenship in Ghana.
This year – long initiative is based on a long tradition of vision towards the outside.
Ghana, the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence from colonial rule, has always had close ties with Africans overseas.
This goes back to the country's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, whose vision of pan-Africanism included alliances with diaspora communities.
Nkrumah had a warm relationship with African-American icons such as Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, who both traveled to Ghana to meet him.
Writer Maya Angelou went to the country after independence and the civil rights advocate, W.E.B. Du Bois is buried in Accra.
Ghana has also sought to encourage returnees from the diaspora through legislation such as the Right of Residence Act 2000, which allows people of African descent to apply for the right to remain indefinitely. in the country.
It was followed by the Joseph Project in 2007, which encouraged Africans in the diaspora to return, and officials compared it to the Israeli law of return that allows Jews to become citizens.
These initiatives have had some success.
It is estimated that 3,000 African-Americans permanently settled in Ghana in 2014.
When Saint John has finished marketing Ghana to the world, she hopes it will have an impact on the entire region and change the perceptions of the people.
"We are going to use Ghana as a gateway to the rest of the continent," she said, adding, "There are beaches in Kenya as well as snow-capped mountains, we have to tell all the incredible opportunities that the island has to offer. Africa to offer. "
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