Table 1.2 Members of Ghana Hotels Association and their location by Regions

REGIONS OF GHANA	NUMBER OF HOTELS
Greater Accra Ashanti Central Volta Eastern Western Brong Ahafo Northern Upper East Upper West	389 61 73 46 80 40 43 33 43 8

Tourism has a direct impact on the hotel sector in Ghana. The more tourism activities are patronized the more there is the need for hotel facilities to serve the tourists – restaurants, fitness centre, swimming pools, artifacts shops, guarded packing etc.

According to the GNA, international tourist arrivals in Ghana for 2007 were 587,000 while tourism receipts for the same year amounted to US$908 million. The average annual growth rate between 2000 - 2007 was at 5.7 percent (Daily Graphic, 2010).

Tourist’s average expenditure also rose from 1,125 dollars in 2002 to 2010 dollars in 2008. In 2002, expendable money was 1,125 dollars, in 2003 it was 1,344 dollars, 2004 expendable cash was 1,711 dollars, 2005 expenditure 1,950 dollars, 2006 -1985 dollars and 2007 it was 1,998 dollar whereas 2008 was 2,010 dollars. 146,653 business people arrived during 2007 and in 2008 arrivals were 160,556 (GNA, 2010).

The hotel industry in Ghana is a major beneficiary of the tourist expenditure as captured above. Boarding and lodging form a major part of the expenses borne by the tourist although there are other expenses which are outside the hotel industry.