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In the wake of calls for government to invest in basic interventions to help the tourism industry to thrive in Ghana, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Baba Jamal, has said that the Ministry and Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) have set October 1, 2012, as the effective date to commence the collection of the Tourism Development Levy. The Tourism Development Levy is one percent of the cost payable by a patron of a tourism entity and is expected to add to the seed money that government is expected to provide for the Tourism Development Fund. This follows the passage of a new Tourism Act (Act 817) and its Legislative Regulations covering the tourism trade, accommodation and catering, as well as the structure of the tourism authority and tourism levy. The Tourism Development Fund is expected to provide the resources for the authority to market and promote the activities and services of players in the tourism industry in Ghana. It will also facilitate capacity building for players in the industry and also embark on market research and development of tourism infrastructure and tourism education and training. The Ministry of Justice and Attorney General�s Department gave Tuesday, July 24, 2012 as the effective date for the implementation of the Tourism Levy Regulations (L.I. 2185), but the implementation had to be delayed because the Tourism Ministry saw the need to sensitize all stakeholders in the industry to prevent any misunderstanding and agitation by the stakeholders, who are supposed to collect the levy on behalf of the Tourism Ministry and the GTA. Baba Jamal said so far, the ministry and the GTA had carried out sensitization programmes on ACT 817 and the Legislative Regulation for stakeholders in the Volta, Central, Western, Eastern and the Greater Accra regions and he was very hopeful that the whole country would be covered by the end of September 2012, so that the collection and payment of the levy could start on 1st October 2012. ��Our collective effort in ensuring that this levy works is in our mutual interest. It will not solve all the challenges facing the sector. It will however, at least help improve access to some of the tourist attractions dotted all over this region. �This will in turn increase visitations and increase the patronage of your facilities, as well as injection of capital by tourists into local economies,� he stated. �The Ministry of Tourism and the Ghana Tourism Authority recognizes that the tourism levy is not the panacea to all challenges facing the sector. Therefore since Act 817 was promulgated, we have been working assiduously with the Ministry of Finance, the Ghana Investment Promotions Center (GIPC) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to review L.I. 1817 which provided incentives to private tourism sector operators. �Consequently, the Ministry of Finance directed the GRA and GIPC to coordinate and administer incentives under the Tourism L.I. 1817,� Baba Jamal explained. According to him, an evaluation and implementation committee made up of representatives of relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies had subsequently been set up and �I entreat all stakeholders to contribute positively towards the operationalization of the Act and Legislative Regulation to enable the tourism industry to realize the goal of making Ghana the preferred tourism destination in Africa�. The Upper East regional manager of the GTA, Prince Ishmael Hakeem, for his part called on all stakeholders in the industry, especially those charged with the responsibility of collecting the levy, to be sincere in their work and account for the levies collected. According him, if there was enough money in the Tourism Development Fund, then proposals could be raised for resources to put the various tourist sites in the region to attract more foreign and local tourists in the area. �I will also encourage all tourism players, especially those of you in the accommodation and catering sector to ensure that all staff are well trained to serve patrons professionally and with respect that will make them feel at home,� Prince Hakeem advised.