Ghana’s ‘December in GH’ campaign has lost some of its momentum and should have received greater promotion and protection, creative entrepreneur George Quaye has said.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z with host Kwame Dadzie, Mr Quaye acknowledged that each administration was entitled to introduce its own policies. However, he said a national brand with an established record deserved stronger support.
“It’s just sad that the fire around the brand December in GH feels a bit doused,” he said.
Mr Quaye stressed that he was not seeking to blame anyone, but recalled a period when December in GH was “the lead brand that was headlining everything”. That followed efforts by the Ghana Tourism Authority to attract event organisers from around the world.
“New king, new law. Everybody has their vision,” he said.
“There is nothing wrong with having a vision and wanting to propagate it,” Mr Quaye added. But he argued that if the government was moving away from an existing programme, it should replace it with an initiative capable of making an even greater impact.
The government is currently rolling out the Black Star Experience.
“Maybe it’s just more time that we need, but I would have wished that what was started some time back that was titled the December in GH, which became a global phenomenon, would have been jealously guarded and pushed,” he said.
The Ghana Tourism Authority initially created December in GH to attract international travellers and members of the diaspora during the holiday season. The campaign gained significant momentum in 2019, when the Year of Return brought music concerts, festivals and homecoming events to the centre of Ghana’s end-of-year calendar.
A January analysis subsequently warned that Ghana’s December hospitality brand was one bill away from collapse.
The wider debate has also focused on the phrase ‘Detty December’. Ghanaian creative Bernard Kafui Sokpe, better known as Mr Meister, helped popularise the expression in 2019. In May 2025, Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin criticised the term and vowed to oppose its use because he believed it portrayed Ghana negatively.
Kofi Okyere Darko, who oversees Diaspora Affairs at the Presidency, voiced further concerns in December 2025. He said the festive period should extend beyond nightlife and place greater emphasis on business deals and professional networking.
DJ Mensah, a disc jockey and event promoter, offered a more positive assessment of the 2025 season. He pointed to full hotels and several shows that had sold out.
For the 2026 season, the Tourism Ministry and the Ghana Tourism Authority have scheduled more than 150 activities under the ‘Ghana to the World’ banner. The programme will run from December 1, 2026 to January 3, 2027, following the Authority’s decision to extend its invitation for event proposals.
