Over the past decade, geographers have used an evolutionary approach to understand how path-dependent resource communities in the global north diversify by adding new tourism trajectories. However, very few scholars have documented similar phenomena in the global south. Rural regions in developing nations have historically relied on primary sector activities, but shifts in global commodity markets have challenged this, making them path-dependent and trapping them in a lock-in state, which hinders economic diversification. Evolutionary economic geographers argue that these regions can still diversify by leveraging their historical resources and combining them with new capital to create new economic pathways like heritage tourism, often driven by in-migrants like counterurbanites. This study examined the role of counterurbanites in the development of tourism trajectories in one post-colonial region of the global south: the Central Region of Ghana, West Africa. Data was collected between 2019 and 2023 through key informant interviews with local government and community stakeholders, along with surveys and interviews with tourism proprietors from three major tourist destinations in the region: Cape Coast Castle, Elmina Castle, and the Kakum National Park. Results reveal that counterurbanites have used three mechanisms: recombination, layering, and conversion, to drive tourism, evidenced by their investments in the tourism, accommodation, food, and retail-artefact sectors. This study demonstrates the applicability of an evolutionary economic geography perspective in the global south. Most importantly, it confirms the involvement of counterurbanites in tourism development is not limited to the global north and selected affluent, older, and highly educated individuals.