VOA标准英语2009年-Ghana Hopes Obama Brings Tourism Boom

Ghana is hoping that this week's visit by U.S. President Barack Obama brings with it an increase in tourism revenue, especially from black Americans.
　
A banner bearing photographs of President Barack Obama and President John Atta Mills of Ghana at the Independence Square in Accra (File)

At Accra's main tourist market, Ama Serwaa sells mugs and key rings in Ghana's red, yellow, and green colors. She has jewelry¹ made from shells and rolls of the country's traditional Kente cloth.

But nothing is selling faster than Barack Obama T-shirts. Some have Mr. Obama's face inside the presidential seal. Others include first lady Michelle Obama and their children Sasha and Malia above the title "America's New First Family."

Serwaa says this week's visit by the Obama family will be good for business.

"It's the best thing. Because he is coming here, a lot of tourists will be coming here. And the name of Ghana is also going higher," she said. "So it brings more tourists to this place because people will find out why he came here."

Tourism is Ghana's fourth largest foreign currency earner behind gold, cocoa, and timber. Tourism earned the country $1.4 billion last year. The government is expecting as much as a 20 percent increase from the Obama visit.

"We want to make Ghana the next destination for most people. Because we see that Senegal currently is, but we want to overtake Senegal," said Kwabena Akyeampong, Ghana's deputy minister of tourism. "Senegal got the break when Clinton visited Goree Island. We believe that if Obama, the first black president and the most-admired man on earth, is coming to Ghana and going to Cape² Coast Castle, that is our break and we need to take advantage of that."

Sites central to the African slave trade including Senegal's Goree Island and Ghana's Cape Coast Castle are especially attractive to black American tourists.

On his tour of Cape Coast Castle, President Obama is expected to visit the slave dungeons³ and the so-called "gate of no return" through which slaves passed toward waiting ships that carried them across the Atlantic for nearly 300 years.

While any presidential visit is good for tourism, Akyeampong says nothing compares with America's first black president making his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa.

"The fact that he is the first black American president visiting Ghana is a thing for us," he said. "We think that it is going to sell to people in the diaspora which tends to be our biggest market when it comes to tourism promotion⁴."

At Accra's tourist market, painter Sam Appiah sells a variety of Obama portraits. He is certain that artisans across the continent are jealous that Ghana is getting President Obama first.

"It's fantastic. And I know that even those in Kenya, they are going to envy us because they are going to be saying why isn't Obama coming to our country because he is from here. But it is all good," he said. "We like it that Obama is coming here."

After the president's tour of Cape Coast Castle Saturday he was scheduled to address thousands of Ghanians at Independence Square. But that speech has now been moved indoors to parliament because of the start of Ghana's rainy season.

1 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

2 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

3 dungeons   

n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The captured rebels were consigned to the dungeons. 抓到的叛乱分子被送进了地牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He saw a boy in fetters in the dungeons. 他在地牢里看见一个戴着脚镣的男孩。 来自辞典例句

4 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。