Tamale lacks hotel facilities for CAN 2008

Tamale June 21, GNA - Mr. William Ayambire, the Northern Regional Manager of the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) has said the hotels in the Tamale Metropolises might not have adequate accommodation facilities to accommodate football fans who may be coming from different parts of Africa to watch the CAN 2008.

He said the current 43 registered and 10 non-registered hotels in the Metropolises could only accommodate between 750 and 800 people, which fall below the capacity of about the 2000 visitors expected. Mr. William Ayambire was addressing some hospitality industry operators at a workshop organised by his outfit in Tamale on Thursday. The workshop was aimed at building the capacity of the hotel operators towards the 2008 tournament.

He has therefore appealed to individuals in the Metropolises with free accommodation facilities to contact the GTB to cushion the inadequate hotel facility for a successful tournament. Mr. Ayambire said though some other hotel facilities were springing up in the Metropolises, most of them do not meet the standard of the ECOWAS guidelines and standards that hotels in the country were operating by and urged them to contact the GTB before putting hotel structures to befit the set standards.

He said the CAN 2008 is a blessing to the hospitality industry in the Metropolis since they would receive more visitors than they could accommodate but the proper management of that opportunity was of paramount importance to the image of the country.

Mr. Ayambire urged the operators to train their staff to enable them to deliver quality customer care services to the incoming visitors. ACP Daniel Avurga, Deputy Police Commander of the Northern Region said the provision of security to the hospitality operators in the Region was very significant, especially during the CAN 2008 adding, "This is the period when '419' operators would take advantage and most of them would lodge in hotels to operate".

He has therefore cautioned them not to hesitate to report any individuals of suspicious characters to the police for immediate action to be taken since the tournament would attract criminals. ACP Avurga advised the operators to know the phone numbers of the nearby police stations, fire service and ambulance and to call on them for immediate assistance during emergencies.

He urged them to also do some background check on the people they recruit and work with in their facilities since some of them might not be of good character.