Executives of the Ghana Hotels Association, Greater Accra chapter, have urged the government to seriously consider reducing taxes for the hotel industry to promote growth. During a visit to Managing Directors of eight upscale hotels in Accra, they highlighted the challenges facing the industry, including high taxes, skyrocketing tariffs, arbitrary annual fees by some regulatory bodies, lack of skilled labor, and poor infrastructure such as roads.
The Managing Directors of the various hotels revealed that a significant 22% of hotel revenues go into taxes, leaving limited funds for operational activities, maintenance, and salaries. They emphasized the need for the government to be considerate with tariffs for hotels, citing that the cost of energy against hotel revenue is 20% in Ghana, compared to 6% in Cote d’Ivoire and 8% in Burkina Faso.
Another major concern raised was the reliance on imported goods, with 80% of hotel supplies, such as meat, bedsheets, and other essentials, sourced from outside Ghana. This leads to high pricing, making Ghanaian hotels less competitive and resulting in a loss of guests to other countries with lower pricing.
To address these challenges, the Managing Directors proposed several solutions, Reducing taxes and tariffs for the hotel industry, Implementing a policy to monitor and ensure quality made-in-Ghana products, eliminating sub-standard products that lead to guest dissatisfaction and complaints, Utilizing a percentage of the Tourism Development Fund to support hotels in Ghana and Establishing a hotel school that offers hands-on training for all skills to address the lack of skilled labor.
During the visit, the Chairperson of the Accra chapter, Mrs. Clare Banoeng-Yakubo, shared the new administration’s plans with the Managing Directors. She informed them of the Ghana Hotels Association’s 50th anniversary this year and lined up of a year-long activities, including a health walk, health screening, symposium, donation to an orphanage, and awards ceremony. She appealed to the Managing Directors to support these activities to make the celebration memorable.
“We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead, and we look forward to working with all stakeholders to make our industry more competitive and sustainable,” Mrs. Banoeng-Yakubo said.
“We have our grand 50th anniversary celebrations as well, and I would encourage you all to participate and support to make it a very memorable one. All the activities have been outlined and we need to take part,” she added.
The eight upscale hotels visited were Kempinski, Movenpic, Accra City, Tang Palace, Labadi Beach, Lancaster, Oak Plaza, and Fiesta Royal. These 3 to 5-star hotels are members of the Ghana Hotels Association, Accra branch.
