Ghana’s hospitality and tourism sector must urgently adopt clear and enforceable customer experience standards to raise service quality and competitiveness across the industry.
This is the view of Professor Ebo Hinson, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Ghana Communication Technology University, who spoke during a Citi Business Festival discussion on “Tourism and Customer Experience” hosted on X Spaces.
Professor Hinson expressed concern over the industry’s persistent neglect of customer feedback, describing it as a systemic weakness that risks eroding trust and undermining growth potential.
“We need to develop customer experience standards for all operators in Ghana’s hospitality and tourism space,” he noted.
“That’s something we attempted 12 years ago with the Ghana Hotels Association, but the momentum wasn’t sustained.”
Drawing comparisons with South Africa, he commended their structured hotel grading system that not only aligns with global benchmarks but also integrates local expectations particularly customer experience which is a critical metric for hotel quality.
Prof. Hinson also highlighted the growing importance of technology in shaping modern tourism experiences and called for a revamp of hospitality training to reflect current digital trends.
“These days, everything is very tech-driven. From chatbots to the metaverse, virtual and augmented reality, we need a significant boost in the digital components of hospitality training from senior high school through to the university level,” he said.
As part of the Citi Business Festival’s ongoing focus on sectoral value addition, Prof. Hinson’s remarks reinforced the need for a customer-centric, digitally empowered hospitality strategy to unlock Ghana’s tourism potential and boost investor confidence.