Bolgatanga, Feb 15, GNA – Mr Henry Yeleduor, the Upper East Regional Director, Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), says most hospitality industry operators in the region did not benefit from the government’s COVID-19 relief package.
He said the hospitality industry, particularly the hotels, were the hardest hit in the tourism sector during the pandemic and many had not still recovered.
However, many of them had not received the support package to help them to recover.
It would be recalled that in 2020, government, as part of its support to businesses to recover from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic announced a GH₵600 million Coronavirus Alleviation Programme business support.
The programme, in collaboration with the Ghana Enterprises Agency, was to provide relief to Small and Medium scale Enterprises in the country to recover from the adverse effects of the pandemic.
Mr Yeleduor, speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, Bolgatanga, noted that most of the hotel operators did not receive the stimulus package and were finding it difficult to get back into business, adding “the sector has been hit hard and we are still trying to come back from our knees.”
He said most of the hotels laid off their workers during the pandemic because they could not pay for their services, adding most of them could still not hire new staff.
He said although the Regional directorate had an agreement with the National Service Scheme to assist them with personnel, the programme never materialised.
“Ghana Tourism and National Service Scheme programme was launched last year and they were supposed to be posting people to us, so we intend to post them to the hotels but the programme never worked,” he added.
While appealing to the National Service Scheme to ensure that personnel were posted to the sector to support the hospitality industry, Mr Yeleduor urged government to open the land borders with protocols in place to ensure that tourists visited the region and patronized the sector.
GNA