Roll out policies to address bottlenecks in hospitality industry - Ghana Hotels Association to govt
UPmarket hotels have called on the government to consider reducing taxes and roll out policies that will help to address bottlenecks in the hospitality industry.
They said challenges such as high taxes, skyrocketing tariffs, arbitrary annual fees by some regulatory bodies, lack of skilled labour and poor road infrastructure were impacting negatively on hotel business in the country.
They made the call when the executive of the Ghana Hotels Association, Greater Accra chapter, visited the managing directors of eight upscale hotels in Accra.
The executive visited Kempinski, Movenpick, Accra City, Tang Palace, Labadi Beach, Lancaster, Oak Plaza and Fiesta Royal, which are three to five-star hotels and members of the Ghana Hotels Association.
The visit allowed the executive to bring the association closer to the managing directors and to formally introduce themselves, as newly installed.
Worrying
The Chairperson of the Greater Accra chapter, Clare Banoeng-Yakubo, said it was worrying that 22 per cent of hotel revenues went into taxes, leaving less for operational activities, maintenance and salaries.
She appealed to the government to be considerate in imposing tariffs on hotels.
According to the industry players, the cost of energy against hotel revenue was six per cent in Cote d’Ivoire and eight per cent in Burkina Faso while in Ghana it was 20 per cent.
“About 80 per cent of what hotel operators use, such as meat, bedsheets and other stuff are imported, which could be sourced locally; and such a development leads to high pricing and subsequent loss of guests to other countries with lower pricing,” he said.
Mrs Banoeng-Yakubo called on the government to put in place a policy to monitor and ensure quality made-in-Ghana products and eliminate sub-standard products, which could lead to guest dissatisfaction and complaints.
50th anniversary
She informed the managing directors that the association was 50 years this year and the Greater Accra branch had lined up a year-long activities to celebrate the milestone.
She said some of the activities were a health walk, health screening, a symposium, a donation to an orphanage, and climaxing it with some awards.
To address the challenges in the industry, the managing directors asked that a percentage of the Tourism Development Fund be used to support hotels in Ghana.
They also said it was important to set up a serious hotel school that would offer hands-on training for a quality workforce.
