The Ghana Tourism Authority is renewing its efforts to soon clamp down on unlicensed hotels in Obuasi and other communities in the Ashanti region.
The exercise is part of a regional effort to sanitize the hospitality sector of some over 200 facilities in the region including guesthouses and restaurants that are operating illegally and breaching key regulatory requirements.
The authority warns without effective management of the facilities; it could potentially hamper progress in the hospitality sector denying the country of revenue.
Leadership of the Ghana Hotels Association in the Ashanti region has been meeting with some directors and managers of hotels and other hospitality facilities in Obuasi.
The forum was to address challenges facing the sector in the gold mining town and expose managers to ways to effectively manage hotels in today’s competitive market.
Concerns were raised over the delays in the issuance of licenses and room standardization for the facility effective operations.
Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority in Ashanti, Frederick Rudolf Adjei says the poor management of these facilities has a negative implication on the sector.
“The few hotel rooms that we have, if they don’t train their staff and they don’t manage it effectively, the hotels will collapse. Even though new ones are coming up, the ones that are already traditionally doing well, the services deteriorate and they collapse, the number of hotel rooms will reduce,” he said.
But the authority says it will soon commence a crackdown on illegal hotel operators in the town.
“We are done with Kumasi and Mampong. Our next place we are visiting next is Obuasi. After here, we will head to Konongo, Agogo and Manso,” he revealed.
Chairman of the Hotels Association in the Ashanti region, George Arkoh Mensah, explained measures are being instituted to enhance the operations of facilities in Obuasi.
“We want to hold a training for them with good resource personnel that will explain, teach, and guide them how to be efficient managers in their facilities,” he noted.
