The Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO), General Services of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Ben Anane-Nsiah has advised Ghanaians engaging in the Guinness World Records (GWR) competition to choose a thon that could promote national tourism.
According to him, not all the records they intended to break or set were in line with the culture and practices of the country.
Speaking exclusively with max.com.gh in Accra, Anane-Nsiah stated that interested participants in the GWR thons have to put lots of things into consideration before embarking on the marathon.
He said culture, music, food, and dance, among others, could promote national tourism, but not all the thons sync with the tourism promotion.
“For example, the lady who did the cook-a-thon is in line with our efforts to promote Ghanaian cuisine. It will not be out of place if we decide to use her as some kind of an agent to promote Ghanaian cuisine,” Anane-Nsiah said.
It could be noted that recently, Patrick Amenuvor embarked on a five-hour stand-a-thon without getting approval from GWR. Another man by name, Isaac Kwame Love, also engaged in a kiss-a-thon, a kissing marathon where he kissed a lady in a hood for about an hour.
However, Anane-Nsiah insisted that participants had to look for records that were culturally compatible in order not to introduce alien and odd practices into the country.
“We have to look at what is compatible with what we are doing and the person’s character; all of that must go into consideration in order for us not to overdo things,” he added.
Addressing the importance of Ghanaians competing to win GWR, Anane-Nsiah said it was okay that Ghanaians would be known widely for a noble cause, as that would promote the country in the right direction.
However, he said Ghana could not immediately hook its international marketing or destination promotion entirely on who was going to emerge victorious.
“We have to give it some time, study, and know how that thon and reputation would endure,” he stated.
Currently, Millennium Chef Smith is still cooking his way to winning the longest cooking marathon. He has cooked for 22 days and intends to cook for a month. Adu Safowaah also embarked on the longest speech marathon, starting from February 9, 2024, to February 15, 2024, speaking for 130 hours.
Source: Ghana/MaxTV/MaxFM/max.com.gh/Joyceline Natally Cudjoe
