The Greater Accra Chairman of the Ghana Hotels Association, Benjamin Afunya says if they do not quickly receive funds to revive the sector, there is a high probability professionals in the sector will be lost.
He noted that the once busy hotels in the country are now as quiet as cemeteries as they (hotels) had to reduce their capacity and lay off staff when the pandemic hit.
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“When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we had to lay of about 90 percent of workers. We believed the stimulus package offered by the government was going to assist us in restructuring and even recalling some of our staff back but that was not enough. Up stream hotels still have staff at home because they are receiving no patrons”.
Benjamin believes that should these experienced staff stay home a lot longer, “then we will reach a period where we will lose staff with as much as 10 years experience and will have to get a new set of workers and train them for the industry, which will not help us”.
The businessman noting the cost involved in training a new crop of staff appealed to the government to review new taxes and levies introduced. “The upward review of taxes will affect our sector which is already suffering”, he intimated.
Assuring the public of their safety if they visit hotels at this time, he told Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show aired on e.TV Ghana and Happy98.9FM, “Patrons should not panic; we are up to code”.
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Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has said that government will speed up the implementation of its proposed Jobs and Skills Program to promote skill development and offer job opportunities to the youth.
This promise comes after some Ghanaian youth took to social media to express their displeasure at what they describe as a failure on the part of successive governments to improve the lives of the citizenry.
The Minister announced that the Government will launch eight new initiatives in the coming months in the health, tourism, trade, agriculture, and infrastructure sectors to boost economic growth, which will also contribute to job creation.
By: Joel Sanco
