Leadership (Abuja)
22 November 2009
The General Manager of the Delta State Tourism Board,Mrs Nkem Ajufo, has predicted a bright future for the hospitality industry in the state.
Ajufo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interviewin Asaba that "the hospitality in dustry will receive a boost when the Asaba Airport is completed next year".
The operators, she said, were looking beyond the experiences of today and were optimistic that the industry would experience a boom soon.
She said that the Asaba Airport was an added advantage to the hotel industry and that the airport would attract more investors to the state.
Ajufo said, "When we have more investors and more businessmen and women coming into the state, the hospitality industry and the tourism sector will receive a boost.
"The availability of standard hotels in the state would help to attract all categories of tourists to the state."The General Manager also told NAN that the board had embarked on the registration of hotels and tourism enterprises in the state.
According to Ajufo, the essence of the registration is to ensure the standardisation and elimination of quacks in the industry.
She said that the registration and classification of hotels, which is a national exercise, would also ensure uniformity and enhance security.
The general manager said, "Hotels are categorised into rural, sub-urban, urban, national and international. "Apart from the categorisation of the various hotels into urban and sub-urban hotels, another category is for hotels that provide accommodation such as motels and guest houses.
"Food services providers like fast food restaurants, canteen
centres, café and snacks bar and coffee shops are grouped together."
She added that tour operators, amusement parks and tourism promoters were grouped under tourism establishments (NAN).
The providers of souvenirs, leisure and other recreational centres, according to her, are not left out of the registration as they are grouped under handicraft.
Ajufo said that the registration exercise was still on going and that quite a number of hoteliers had responded. She advised those, who have not registered, to do so in order to avoid any form of sanction.
Ajufo appealed to the private sector to invest in the hospitality industry, and gave assurance that the Delta Government had provided an enabling environment for the hospitality industry to grow. She said that the availability of standard hotels would not only attract tourists to the state, but would also create employment for the unemployed youths in the state.
NAN
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
