Ghana’s tourism accommodation market shows sharp regional disparities – GSS

Ghana's tourism accommodation market reveals significant regional disparities, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). A recent Accommodation Unit Survey spanning November 2024 to February 2025 highlights stark differences in occupancy rates across various regions. Savannah Region leads with a remarkable 63.7% room occupancy rate in January 2025, whereas Eastern, Bono East, and Volta regions struggle with rates below 28% throughout the survey period.

The Central Region demonstrates the most consistent high demand, maintaining bed occupancy rates above 70% across the survey months. Western Region also shows strong performance, hitting a peak occupancy of 77.2% in December 2024, which slightly decreased to 70.5% by February 2025. Greater Accra, despite being the region with the largest accommodation capacity, experiences room occupancy levels hovering between 41% to 48% during the same period.

The survey underscores that high accommodation capacity doesn't guarantee robust demand, suggesting regional demand patterns heavily influence tourism activity. At the national level, room occupancy averages around 44.7% across the surveyed months, from a low of 44.1% in January to 46.6% in December, before returning to 44.7% in February.

Available room capacity steadily increased from 5.03 million room-nights in November to 5.21 million in January before dropping to 4.69 million in February. Occupied rooms saw a similar fluctuation, rising to 2.42 million in December from 2.25 million in November, before declining to 2.10 million in February.

Key insights reveal that domestic tourism dominates the market, with domestic visitors outnumbering foreign tourists significantly. Domestic guests account for 1.87 million to 2.17 million room-nights per month, while foreign tourists average fewer than 40,000 room-nights per month. Foreign visitors tend to stay longer, averaging three to four nights in hotels compared to two nights for domestic guests, a factor that amplifies the economic impact of tourism.

Revenue performance also declined between November 2024 and January 2025, with the National Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) dropping from GH¢603 in November to GH¢490 in January, before recovering to GH¢524 in February. Similarly, the Average Daily Rate (ADR) fell from GH¢1,351 in November to GH¢1,112 in January, recovering to GH¢935 in February. Greater Accra leads in RevPAR, albeit experiencing a decline from GH¢1,165 in November to GH¢852 in January, before climbing back to GH¢935 in February.

The GSS recommends that tourism planning should focus on converting existing accommodation capacity into sustained demand and revenue, emphasizing utilisation, regional demand patterns, destination development, infrastructure, events, marketing, and accessibility. They caution that the findings, based on a four-month period, should be viewed as an emerging baseline rather than a definitive indicator of long-term tourism trends.