GTA clamps down on illegal hospitality enterprises
The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has embarked on a nationwide exercise to close down illegal tourism and hospitality enterprises in all parts of the country.
Advertisement
The exercise, which began on August 7, in Accra, would focus on enterprises such as hotels, guest houses, lodges, restaurants, chop bars, drinking spots, night clubs, and travel and tour agencies.
Two facilities closed
For a start, the GTA closed down the Kengray Executive Guest House at Sakumono and Flimps Travel Consult, a travel and tour agency, at Nungua, for operating without licences.
Although the Kengray Executive Guest House had been operating for more than a year and had almost all the certification authorising it to operate, it was closed down because it did not have a licence from the GTA.
Workers and clients in the two facilities vacated the premises, while officials of GTA locked them with padlocks and posted notices of closure on the doors and gates.
The Public Relations Officer of GTA, Mr Ben Ohene-Ayeh, said for operating illegally, the affected enterprises would have to pay GH¢500 as penalty and also begin the process of registration.
Illegal operations
Earlier at a press briefing to announce the commencement of the exercise, the acting Chief Executive Officer of GTA, Mr Charles Osei-Bonsu, expressed worry over the number of hospitality enterprises operating without licence or accreditation from the authority.
He stated that any tourism or hospitality enterprise that was operating without a licence from the GTA was operating illegally.
Other Trending Stories
Mr Osei-Bonsu said tourism enterprises must be registered, inspected and licensed on merit of satisfying the requirements under the various instruments by the authority and classified or graded before they could begin operations.
“Any enterprise that did not conform to the laid down procedure for the licence cannot be certified by the authority, “Mr Osei-Bonsu said, and added that non-renewal of licence and non-compliance with GTA notices also led to closure of a tourism enterprise.
He added that some enterprises that had gone through the process and had their licences issued were yet to pick them from the GTA offices, while others had failed to submit all the mandatory documents for certification.
One per cent levy
“Operating without certification from the authority also deprives the authority and the country of a one-per cent levy on tourism services, which is paid into the Tourism Development Fund”, he said.
He explained that the levy was used for activities such as building the capacities of the operators of the enterprises.
He said the taskforce for the exercise also involved officers of the Ghana Police Service to enforce the law and ensure that tourism enterprises met the standard for operation.
By its mandate, Mr Osei–Bonsu explained that the GTA was to regulate tourism services and activities and promote domestic tourism, generate foreign exchange for the country, create jobs and help accelerate socio-economic development.