Big Budget Hotels In High Demand

The high demand for big budget hotels in the country has become a source of worry to the country’s tourist promoters.

Statistics from the Ghana Tourist Board reveals that the nation presently has only one 5–star hotel consisting of 104 rooms and 150 beds with an occupancy rate of 93 percent on the average.

There are four 4-star hotels in the country with a total of 672 rooms and 983 beds and have an occupancy rate of 85.89 percent as well. This, however, does not meet up with the government policy on tourism which is geared towards business traffic tourism.

“Ghana is a conference destination, our market is the business traffic, hence most of the people come in to attend conferences and business meetings,” Mr. Ben Ayeh, manager, Public Relations Department of the Ghana Tourist Board, told B&FT

He explained that the political stability of the nation has made Ghana an attractive Business/Conference destination in West Africa.
However, the scarcity of high budget hotels has resulted in exorbitant hotel rates, where a tourist has to pay $250 per day for a room in a five star hotel.

This has been described as a major disincentive to tourists who end up checking out of the hotels for the low budget ones. “In most cases the after two or three days the tourists check out of the high budget hotels and look for less expensive ones. These tourists also want to maximize funds, “Mr. Ayeh buttressed.

In a separate interview with the CEO of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre GIPC, Geroge Aboagye lamented that the comfort of tourists cannot be guaranteed with the state of the infrastructure in the sector. He said the lack of many big budget hotels has contributed to the high rate being charged which do not attract enough tourists to generate the required revenue and returns.

“How do we attract the kind of tourists we are targeting into the country if we do not have the required infrastructure that will cater for them?” he quizzed The GIPC Boss explained that the low budget hotels lacked the required services and human resource for the business traffic tourists and should therefore not be an option for them.

He urged the private sector to invest in the sector to salvage the alarming situation of the industry.In 2009, the nation had 184 639 business tourists and 72, 250 arrivals for the purpose of conferences and meetings culminating into 31percent of the tourist arrivals in the country.

That same year 64, 222 (8 percent) tourists came into the country for study/training purposes, while arrivals for Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) were 192,667 representing 25 percent.A total number of 8,028(1percent) tourists visited the country for medical reasons, while 160,556 tourists came into the country for holidays. A number of 80, 278 tourists also came into the country for transit and 40, 139(5%) for other purposes.

In 2008, 698, 069 tourists came into the country; out of which 223, 382 tourists came in for business/conference purposes. A number of 55, 846 people also came in for study/training programmes, while the nation received 174,517 arrivals for VFR.

Another interesting sector that is attracting tourist is the medical sector. Over 6,981 people came into the country to seek medical attention during 2008

Source: B&FT