C.E.O of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Mr. Akwasi Agyeman
b>• The Tourism Authority C.E.O has bemoaned the inability of most Ghanaian hotels to embrace technological enhancements
• Mr. Agyemang says some hotels in Ghana still lack some common basic facilities
• He said this attitude could deter the growth of the hospitality sector
C.E.O of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Mr. Akwasi Agyeman, has indicated that about 80 percent of hotel establishments in Ghana do not own websites or even working computers.
He said this was found after a feasibility study in the hospitality sector was conducted.
According to Mr. Agyemang, the unfortunate situation has compelled the authority to set up a software application called ‘Ghana App’ that seeks to aid tourists, especially those abroad, book hotels.
Touching on some other important tools that these hotels lacked, the Tourism Authority C.E.O said:
“The little that I know from the feasibility studies we did in the country is that about 80 percent of hotels don’t even have a website. If you go to the hotel, they don’t even have a computer that will enable you to log in, so the receptionist will hand you a key and then you enter the room and the following day, you give the key out and then you are gone. So there’s no data, no way that even the owners can trace who has come to the hotel and all that and certainly, it is not the best,”
Mr. Agyemang noted further at a stakeholders conference that the inability of hotels in Ghana to adapt to new technology continues to impact negatively on them.
This he explained that many hotels lost out on a good opportunity to make money during the Year of Return in 2019.
“When we had the Year of Return in 2019 for example, many hotels complained that they saw people come in but they didn’t book their hotels. But the question is, where were they expecting them to book? Did they expect them to walk to for instance, Kokomlemle, and ask of the nearest hotel? It doesn’t work like that anymore. So Air BnB, an online marketplace that connects people who want to rent out their homes with people who are looking for accommodation in that locality, took advantage and the revenue in that space grew by about 126 per cent,” he stated at a stakeholder conference.