In a report by Ozy on the topmost electric economies in the world, the media company adjusted Ghana as one of the top 3 destinations for tourists. The report includes the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Benin as follows:
1. Ghana
For decades, Ghana has been regarded as the spiritual home of the Black American diaspora. In 2019, it embraced that reputation. President Nana Akufo-Addo has built an ecosystem around repatriating people from the diaspora and masterminded a series of celebrations around the “Year of Return” in 2019 to mark the 400th anniversary of the start of the transatlantic slave trade. According to the Ghanaian government, the Year of Return injected $1.9 billion into the economy due to spending by tourists that year. The government is still charging ahead on a tourism economy drive. Citizens of Caribbean countries such as Barbados and Guyana have signed visa waivers with Ghana, and Black diasporans are being actively urged to resettle in the country.
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2. Dominican Republic
In recent years, the Brazilian butt lift has become a wildly popular cosmetic procedure, and the Dominican Republic has emerged as a mecca for people looking to resculpt their backside. Why? Because in its capital, Santo Domingo, clinics charge around half of what you’d pay in a city like New York. There’s a downside though: A cheap butt lift can also pose a lethal risk. The Dominican Republic may be easy on the pocket, but it’s become the most dangerous place in the world to have plastic surgery. Still, that’s not slowing the waves of overseas medical tourism. In 2018, more than 23,000 plastic surgeries were performed in the Caribbean country — two-thirds of them on foreigners.
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3. Benin
The economy of Benin, Nigeria’s tiny next-door neighbor, benefits in many ways from the latter’s overwhelmed ports and porous borders. But that’s not all. Over the last several decades, Benin has positioned itself to receive thousands of students from across the border. Many private universities have sprung up across the country promising cheap tuition and an undergraduate degree in three years instead of the four years required in Nigeria. But who is benefiting the most? Although the schools are regulated by the Beninese authorities, their Nigerian counterparts argue that the franchise colleges have led to a decline in the quality of university curricula and that diplomas can easily be bought by students who are unwilling to study.
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