SAN FRANCISCO, December 19, (THEWILL) – A major player in the nation’s hospitality and tourism industry has appealed to the federal government to focus more on the business-friendly environment by providing adequate infrastructure, security and others facilities that will make hotel business thrive.
Chairman of Dover Hotel, Mr Jackson Agbai Abbah, who made the appeal recently stated that when these infrastructures are put in place, hospitality businesses will benefit.
Speaking with THEWILL in Lagos, Agbai pointed out that security is an important aspect of hotel business as all guests are concerned about their safety and security.
Agbai said: “Security situation in the country is affecting us adversely and it is part of the infrastructure that I am talking about. It affects tourism. A lot of resources is spent on security by hoteliers because it is fundamental that anybody staying in the hotel must feel extremely safe. In Nigeria, you have your own security ‘in situ’. At a time, we had to light up the streets at our own cost to allay the fears over insecurity”.
The hotelier who lamented that his hotel lost about N800 million Naira during the 5-month Covid-19 lockdown said “before Covid-19 pandemic, we were doing about 70 per cent, which is huge in the industry; but now we are doing about 30 per cent to 35 percent”.
Commending the federal government for its efforts so far to alleviate the negative effects of Covid-19, he said : “We understand that a few banks have such plans as they are offering people credits, that is those affected by Covid-19. The Lagos State Government has something for the hospitality industry. For those of us who are a little bit geared, we have obligations to Bank of Industry (BoI). The bank has, however, been giving incentives. BoI says we could defer our payment for another one year.
“They also brought down the loan by almost half. To that extent, it is a good incentive, but the problem is whether it is sufficient when you have five months of not doing anything. And then, by the time you start, you have another six months to start paying back, whether you like it or not. In fact, it will take more than a year before you start getting back to the level that you were before the pandemic.
“This is because until the vaccines are fully out, people are not going to have the same kind of confidence that they had before the pandemic. It means we will have diminished patronage. If we have that, how are we going to be able to meet up those financial obligations? I would have thought that they extend it a little more or even reduce the interest rates. However, the good news we are getting from BoI is that they have plans to look at every organization, according to their respective impacts.”
About the Author
