Year of Return: Visa shortage hits Ghana consulate in the United State

This, the consulate says, is due to some exhaustion of supply of the visas.

The Honorary Consulate General of Ghana in Houston, U.S has published the non-issuance of visas on its website.

In a statement, the consulate said “we have exhausted our supply of visas, we are unable to fulfil any applications at this time. We are expecting a supply of fresh visas from the embassy shortly”.

Ghana has designated 2019 as the Year of Return to celebrate four centuries since the first African slaves were forcibly taken abroad.

The West African country has been running a strategic marketing campaign targeting African Americans and the diaspora, and various events have been arranged.

There has been huge patronage of the Year of Return campaign as about 100 Afro-Americans and Afro Caribbeans have been the conferred citizenship.

The focus has been on honouring the liberation from slavery. But it has also served as a marketing exercise to popularise Ghana as a tourism destination with Trans-Atlantic trade appeal.

The Year of Return campaign hopes to capitalize on historical links with African Americans to boost Ghana’s tourism industry.

Year of Return: Visa shortage hits Ghana consulate in the United State Pulse Ghana

Government of Ghana introducing electronic visa, e-visa for first-time visitors

Meanwhile, Ghana’s Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has announced that the government will launch an electronic visa (e-visa) system next year to make it easy for tourists to visit the country.

According to him, with the introduction of the system, visitors to the country would not need to go to Ghana’s embassies abroad to apply for visas, as they could apply for them online.

Dr Bawumia said this when he opened the first Regional Congress on Women Empowerment in the Tourism Sector - Focus on Africa, in Accra on Monday, November 25, 2019.