Ekiti Tourism & Hospitality News

By Omojola Michael; Pics by Ola Folarin.

Ekiti Tourism & Hospitality Task Force (HTHTF) on Monday pays inspection visits to some hospitality establishments in Ado-Ekiti.

The oversight visits which took the team, comprising of staff of Ekiti State Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, to 13 hotels and some bars as well as kitchens in the State capital provided the opportunity for critical assessment of compliance with standard ethical codes of management of such facilities.

Some of the things inspected include house keeping, restaurant and bar waste management, the front office, power supply and security management system.

The team also distributed demand notices and registration forms for immediate registration of such establishments in compliance with the Ekiti State Tourism and Hospitality Licensing Law 2020.

The team had a one-on-one interface with managers of some of the hotels which have reportedly being operated in gross disregard for the ethical principles of hospitality management particularly those allowing desecration of their outlets and streets by commercial sex workers as well as those who allow indiscriminate smoking of all sorts of substances within their premises.

The team warned that any facility that encourages such ignoble and illicit activities risked being penalized by the State Government.

The leader of the team, Mr. Adebanji Adelusi urged hotel owners to upgrade their facilities and employ professionals to manage them. Adelusi explained that some of the things that mitigate against optimal performance of most hotels in the State include poor facility and low maintenance culture, unprofessional conduct among hotel staff, over-pricing, poor maintenance of environment and lack of good customer relations.

He said the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management through the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism would be partnering with appropriate professional institutions to build the capacity of hotel workers and managers in the State.

Adelusi admonishes the hoteliers to appreciate the State Government for giving them enough time as moratorium before the enforcement of the Tourism and Hospitality Registration and Licensing Law.