Being deliberate and intentional to ‘Detty’ December 

Until last year, Ghana enjoyed global recall for our unique destination’s December experiences celebrating culture, entertainment and community.

An evaluation of the impact and contributions of the ‘December in GH’ events show significant increases in every aspect of tourism in the country, from accommodation to transportation to hospitality, entertainment and visits to tourist facilities, with all indicators pointing to reasons why we must be hawkish in protecting the razzmatazz of tourism opportunities dubbed ‘Detty December’ that we have had the occasion to nurture in recent years.

Enter Lagos, Nigeria, in 2024, which seems to have pulled all the stops to stage replica festivities raising the age old rivalry between our two countries. PaJohn Dadson looks at what Ghana needs to do to keep up the momentum of the progress she has made since falling into the welcome dazzle of the “Detty December” end of year celebrations.

From high-life music to jollof wars, the rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana – which has been nothing short of legendary – has taken on new wings and gone into the sphere of the phenomenon of tourism.

The latest in the combat between the two nations is about who is holding true to the ‘Detty December’ pomp of hosting the most exciting mix of fluffy night life and dizzying high energy events.

Prior to 2025 when one keyed in to search ‘Detty December’ online, one was likely to come across the following entry; “December In Ghana, colloquially referred to as Detty December, is a cultural and festive phenomenon that gained prominence alongside the ‘Year of Return’ initiative launched by the Government of Ghana in 2019. It refers to the year-end festivities, typically observed from mid-December through the New Year.

Today, another relatively refreshed entry states: “Detty December refers to the festive period at the end of the year in Nigeria, typically from mid-December through the New Year. It’s a time of vibrant celebrations, social gatherings, parties and festivities characterised by high energy, excitement and optimism”.

The uninitiated curious searcher, needing validation to determine which December they must choose to “Detty” themselves at, is most certainly going to find one of these blurbs more appealing.

Which one, is the question. A question that must be of concern to us here in Ghana. Undoubtedly, in the five years since its inception, the “Return” has redefined Ghana’s travel ecosystem with its flagship December in GH events and experiences. But perhaps, the question that needs interrogating is how much we have invested into the Detty December phenomenon to attract more attention.

It may already have been a term defining Nigeria’s  popular Yuletide season, but Detty December emerged in Ghana in 2017. This was when Ghanaian resident Nigerian Afrobeat artist Mr. Eazi, who, releasing a track titled “Detty Yasef” which became quite popular across Ghana and Nigeria, headlined his annual “Detty Rave” concert that takes place in Ghana during December, hashtagged Detty December – defining it to mean “have fun and chop life”. That brought the term to life in Ghana.

In December 2017, Afrochella, a Gen Z-led festival aimed at promoting Afrobeats and Ghanaian arts and culture to an increasingly conscious young African audience both on the continent and in the diaspora was inaugurated in Ghana. It drew in a bevy of people from across the world to Accra, prompting the international media to begin tagging Ghana as the Christmas destination.

In 2019, it exploded when Ghana’s then President, Nana Akufo Addo, launched the Year of Return and pronounced an invitation to the historical diaspora to return home to visit, live and invest in Africa via Ghana as the gateway. This opened the floodgates for the influx of arrivals we saw.

The several thousands, including hundreds of high profile celebrities who heeded the call came during the Christmas holiday season. Ghana’s tourism authorities quickly seized the momentum, crystallised it and christened it “December in GH”, anchoring it as the backbone of the ‘Year of Return’, and its offspring ‘Beyond the Return’. This move single-handedly changed the narrative of the perception of Ghana on the global stage.

Historically a time when Ghanaians abroad returned home from their sojourns to spend the holiday with family and friends, a flurry of events and activities – including musical concerts, fashion shows, masquerades and so on – usually take place to climax the end of the year.

For the next few years, Detty December became synonymous with December in GH! A time of high voltage, beautiful celebration of community and people.

“Over the past five years, the partnership and endorsements we have received from the ‘Beyond The Return’ Secretariat, including facilitating police security and some publicity, have helped play an instrumental role in elevating and positioning our annual ‘December in GH’ listed event as a premier cultural experience,” states Daniel Asaah, PR for the annual destination ‘Little Havana All White Party on the Hills’ event.

“Not only has Little Havana, which draws in excess of 7000 attendees – including celebrities from across the globe – become a bridge for business collaboration between Ghanaians and the diaspora; it significantly boosts tourism, creating employment opportunities and contributing to the growth of the local economy through entertainment.”

Likewise, Kwab Asamoah of Kustom Looks Clothier, manufacturers of unique African-inspired garments, speaks of the sustained market their partnership with the ‘Beyond the Return’ has offered them,that has led to an expansion and increase in their workforce by 300 percent!

Ghana is on a roll! But December 2024 happened! Nigeria’s capital Lagos pulled all the stops to stage a rival Detty December that seems to have impressed many, including global news networks like CNN who have now shifted the attention from declaring Accra, Ghana as the December party destination of the world to Lagos, Nigeria.

Is Ghana loosing its momentum? Many argue that Ghana was ill-prepared for the magnitude of rippling economic opportunities Detty December presented. That Ghana was just rolling with the flow of the success of the phenomenon that is organic, missing the mark of being intentional and deliberate in providing adequate support for the opportunity to flourish, which is what Lagos seems to be doing.

There’s a spiritual dimension to the ‘Return’ call which needs to be addressed. Ghana needs to become the Hajj destination for the African diaspora who needs a spiritual home. Ghana seems to have provided this home, and has become the conduit of a bridge that connects the African diaspora to the continent.

It is the excessive monetising of the essence of the ‘Return’ that many worry over. That is inevitable but Ghana needs a better mechanism to monitor how much this steers the way it affects the ‘Return’. No doubt, entertainment will draw people in. It just needs to be to the benefit of the people while in the same breath not be a drain on them.

In Nigeria, it has been found that in the month of December alone remittances from the diaspora is already equivalent to 4 percent of the country’s GDP! When measured, a similar percentage is likely to be found for Ghana.

Making a commentary in a video that has since gone viral, former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola is thrilled to state that “Detty December has opened a positive image for Nigeria”.

“All of the young men and women who came here from other parts of the world are reliving their experiences on social media”, he is heard saying; “so there is interest in the place called Lagos in Nigeria and we can expand it.”

This is precisely what happened with Ghana’s incursion six years ago. Detty December opened the door, but it seems we were not ready to seize its enormous opportunities to sustain it to become even more grand.

In spite of how hard and cleverly the executing authorities worked to ensure its success, the government seemed to fail in providing sufficient funding for the programme to grow exponentially.

In Ghana, when it comes to tourism, the government always seems constrained and unable to make the right levels of investments. Going forward, government needs to better appreciate and approach tourism as a high priority investment sector and increase financial support to beef up marketing in order to attract more tourists.

The interest in Ghana is palpable. However, that enabling environment has to be present for the practitioners; and entrepreneurs to invest in and flourish. It is the only way.

We must be deliberate and intentional even as we prepare to generate our prosperity from tourism, the low hanging fruit.

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