By Ebere Chibuzor
Hotel owners and investors in Nigeria are reportedly battling with the frustration of surviving the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic since early March 2020, as they are beginning to count their losses while muting the idea of relieving most of their workers to keep business afloat.
They lament that hotel patronage has significantly dropped to a record low thereby affecting their earnings. Owners of some of these tourism establishment in the country have sought all means of keeping their businesses alive while retaining staff but the negative impact of the pandemic has dealt a huge blow on them.
Blessing Clifford, an investor in the industry, in a chat with our correspondent recently told The Trending News that hotel business in Nigeria, especially in the cities, have suffered tremendous hit, thereby suggesting that government at all levels should come to the aids of investors by offering them tax break and other major incentives so that they can gather enough momentum to effectively run their businesses.
She expressed worry over government officials’ attitudes towards tax collection from hotel operators. She noted that since patronage has dropped significantly, the government at all levels need to show some sympathy towards operators.
Clifford who is also the General Manager, Britannia Hotel and Suites, Lagos claimed that such development would support hoteliers to remain afloat in this difficult times. She specifically charged the government to reduce Consumption Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) so as to enable the sector retain sizable numbers of workers, according her, it is the responsibility of the government to offer tax rebate and palliatives to these private sector at a period of global pandemic.
Discussing how she has managed to survived the aftermath of the pandemic, she disclosed that her background as a scientist gave her an edge over other competitors. She said, “As soon as the management team got hint about the arrival of covid-19 pandemic in the country, we quickly shutdown the hotel even before instruction from the Lagos state government on closing business establishment within the state. We were fast about doing the needful and so as not to expose our guests to the pandemic.
“We observed and still observing all precautionary measures as directed by the government. As its currently stands, we are doing rooms spacing. This is how it works, among the 31 rooms, we intentionally do not use the whole 31 rooms due to the love for our guests and we do not want them to be exposed to the virus, every staff were taken to the Government approved test centres and were certified safe, they were employed and deployed them to various departments.
She however noted that the prospect of hospitality industry in Nigeria is high because Nigerian are in the look out for good hotels. So the business is lucrative but had recently been affected by the recent outbreak of the novel pandemic.
“Today, we are recording low occupancy, this has joined other numerous challenges including epileptic power supply.
She advised the government to focus more on maintaining tourism facilities spread across the country including the National Arts Theater and reputable cultural festivals including the Argungi fishing festival that have continued to serve as income earner.
Speaking about some of factors that made Britannia Hotel a delight Clifford said, “Britannia hotel offers wide range of services such as laundering, internet, sight seeing and also have facilities like VIP bar, bush bar, restaurant as well.
” With its serene environment in Ajao Estate, Lagos, our hotel uniquely offers in-house guests and fun seekers touch of home away from home services.
“We train and retrain our staff. And in Britannia we do not joke with our staff welfare.
“Security is paramount and we have both internal and external security and so there is zero tolerance for any form of crime or criminality activities.
In a concluding chat with our correspondent, she revealed that tourism industry must be given topmost priority due to its ability to generate more revenue for the country.