The Ghana Hotels Association is calling for a single window platform for the payment of all levies by its members.

President of the Association, Dr. Edward Ackah-Nyamike, who made the call in an interview with Citi Business News said the current duplication of processes is an inconvenience for his members.

“We have been talking about multiplicity of payments by the hotels. This industry has almost 13 different payments that we make. Talk about the MMDAs; within the MMDAs we have different ones, we have property rate, business operating permit and a host of them. We’ve been saying that, is it possible for us to bring all these different institutions at least under the Ghana Tourism Authority which is our primary regulator. So that we don’t have different agencies visiting the hotels at the same time. Sometimes it can be very embarrassing. So, we have been saying that they should find a way to capture all these different regulatory bodies under one umbrella.”

The Ghana Hotels Association was formed in 1975, and it is made up of Managing Proprietors, Managing Directors or Accredited Representatives of Hotels, Motels, and Guest Houses that have been certified and licensed by the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) to offer accommodation, catering and other tourism services in Ghana.

Based on GTA categorization, members have facilities that are certified as either budget or one to five stars.

The mission of the Association is to be unified, effective and instrumental in advocating and shaping policies that promote the hotel industry; to provide training and technical assistance to its membership that would strengthen the sector, and foster good relationship among members and stakeholders in the tourism industry.

Source: Citibusinessnews.com