GTA officials closing down a hotel that is failing to meet the acceptable standards
SOME HOTELS in Kumasi, the capital of Ashanti Region, have been closed
down because they are not operating in accordance with acceptable standards.
The temporal
closure of the hotels formed part of a three-day intensive exercise by the
Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) to ensure professionalism in the hotel industry.
The exercise saw
officials of the GTA in the Ashanti Region, making unannounced visits to
players in the hospitality industry in the city, made up of hotels and
restaurants.
During the
exercise, hotels and restaurants that were refusing to pay the one percent
Tourism Levy were also not spared as punitive measures were instantly taken
against them.
During the visits,
it was detected that some of the hotels, in particular, were not living up to
expectation therefore the GTA was compelled to close them down immediately.
The affected
hotels would only return to business, after they have corrected their mistakes
by working to improve their operations to meet the standards of the GTA.
Prince Yaw Essah,
Administrator of the Tourism Development Fund, said the exercise aimed to
ensure excellent service delivery in the hospitality industry.
He said hotels and
restaurants in the city that defaulted in the payment of the tourism levy or
operated below the statutory safety and security standards would be punished.
Yaw Essah stated
that the one per cent Tourism Levy seeks to provide funding for tourism-related
projects like capacity building, development of tourism infrastructure and
others.
He therefore sternly warned operators who had constantly refused to pay the levy to quickly change their minds and do the right thing, to avoid having issues with the law.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
