The most widely hit sector as far as the coronavirus is concerned is the hotel industry. Report indicates that their predicament is so grave that they need pragmatic intervention to save it from total collapse.
To this end, Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Tourism, Odelia Ntiamoah told Class FM in an interview that 90% of hotels will be closed down.
She said:
“We are currently doing a research, we are yet to complete the research but so far, the hotels we have dealt with, for example, by next week about 90% of them will have totally closed down. That means that all these hotels that are closing down, we are looking at job losses, we are looking at revenue losses.”
She said: “Apart from that, restaurants and other places connected to us including tourist sites have all been closed down, beaches have closed. So, these are some of the reasons we are asking for a stimulus package”.
“Remember that the tourism sector contributed significantly to our foreign exchange earnings; we are currently at number four in terms of contribution to the country’s revenue. This also directly means that the government is losing revenue; so, if this sector goes down, you definitely have to help this sector stand up so you get the needed revenue when corona ends”, Mrs Ntiamoah said.
She explained further that a decline in activities of the tourism sector will affect the local currency, the cedi.
“Remember also that this is directly connected to the performance of the cedi, and all of us are interested in the cedi staying stable, whether you are an importer or exporter, you want the cedi remaining stable”.
SOURCE: www.Ghgossip.com
