There is the threat of some hotels closing down over revenue losses occasioned by Covid-19
Following Ghana’s increase in recorded case of the coronavirus pandemic, the President issued a directive to suspend all public gatherings which included conference in the country.
This has resulted in cancellations of bookings made with hotels, prior to the first recorded cases in the country.
The situation is having a toll on the hotel operators in Ghana, as they have had to refund monies paid for the bookings in their facilities.
Consequently, the Ghana Hotels Association says its members may be forced to close down some of their facilities if government doesn’t take steps to cushion them from the effects of low patronage. Hotels in Ghana are in a desperate situation.
Drop in patronage
The Association says are facing sharp revenue shortfalls. Very few people are now booking for rooms or conference halls, as public gatherings are halted to prevent a nationwide spread of the virus.
The President of the Ghana Hotels Association, Dr. Edward Ackah Nyameke Jnr., in an interview with Accra based Citi FM, says there has been a significant drop in patronage of their facilities and the services they render.
“The work thrives on visitors and clients coming in, and so if they are not coming, how are you going to manage your staff? How are you going to manage your bills, how are you going to manage the taxes and so on. We can only pray,” he said.
Dr. Nyameke explained Hotels in Ghana cannot continue to incur losses if government does not step in to provide some relief for them. He further added that thousands of people in the hotel management sector will be worse off if the situation persists.
“If we are not getting clients or guests at our facilities for a significant length of time, we would have to shut shown because we cannot continue working,” he said.
COVID-19 cases in Ghana so far
So far, Ghana has recorded seven cases of the COVID-19 as at Tuesday, March 17, 2020.
The government has earmarked US$100million to support the containment of the virus.
In addition, some preventive measures have been rolled out to avoid a possible spread of the covid-19 disease.
The measures include ban on all public gatherings including church activities, conferences, schools and funerals among others.
Also, there been a flight restriction from countries with 200 or more of the COVID-19 cases to reduce the imported cases recorded so far.
