Ghana Says
A new i Go Ghana initiative makes it easier for chinese tourists to visit the West African destination
Chinese tourists wanting to sample the rich historical sites and natural scenery of Ghana can now do so at an appreciable discount. I Go Ghana, a loyalty program, is jointly run by South Africa-based Standard Bank Group, Stanbic Bank Ghana’s parent group, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) with support from the Ghana Tourism Authority. The program, which seeks to attract Chinese tourists to visit Ghana by giving them discounts and special offers whenever they use ICBC cards at selected travel, hospitality and lifestyle merchants in the country, was officially launched late last year.
Lincoln Mali, Standard Bank’s Group Head of Cards and Emerging Payments, has urged Ghanaians to seize the opportunity and package their rich historical sites to attract Chinese tourists.
“China has emerged as a key economic partner for Africa in recent years and through the I Go Ghana program, Standard Bank wants to strengthen relations between Ghana and China through trade and tourism,” he said. “Such an arrangement, we believe, is good for the tourism industry and the economies of the two countries.”
Chinese friendly facilities
To further support this initiative and strengthen the Africa-china corridor, Mali recounted the hard work Stanbic Bank Ghana has done to enable the acceptance of Unionpay International cards on local point-of-sale devices. Unionpay International is the subsidiary of China Unionpay, an interbank financial service provider.
He said that statistics from China Outbound Tourism Research Institute predicts