The spiralling negative impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria’s hospitality and tourism sectors led the current leadership of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria [FTAN] to embark on sensitisation visits to tourism facilities in Nigeria.
Starting with Abuja yesterday, March 19th, 2020, the President of FTAN, Alhaji Saleh Rabo, led a team of the Federation’s executive members to some leading hospitality outlets including Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Rockview Hotels, and Kapital Klub Apartments.
FTAN President, addressing journalists in Abuja, said “the global tourism industry is one of the most adversely affected by this rampaging coronavirus pandemic, and the industry in Nigeria is really very badly hit. Most hotels in Nigeria are now operating with less than 30 percent guest occupancy rate; thereby operating at a loss and consequently forced to downsize staff, in order to reduce costs and save them from shutting down completely.”
The President also revealed that FTAN members are the largest financial and institutional investors in Nigeria’s tourism industry till date, including investments in hotels, resorts, transport services, tour operations, travel agencies, folklore entertainers and many more. He stated that FTAN members provide jobs to thousands of Nigerian employees, both as direct and indirect labour. He, therefore, expressed sadness at the dire toll Covid-19 is having both on operators’ business bottom-lines and on the personal lives of tourist facility owners and staff members.
The sensitisation visit began at the prestigious Transcorp Hilton where FTAN executives were warmly-received the hotel’s General Manager, Kevin Brett, and other management executives.
Rabo explained that “this visit is two-fold in nature; it is both solidarity and a sensitisation visit. It is a solidarity visit because we came to express our support and to stand with you in the face of the biting losses you are incurring due to low occupancy in your hotel.
Secondly, this is also a sensitisation visit to encourage you on the need to activate and sustain the coronavirus preventive measures for the benefit of your guests and teeming staff members.”
Speaking, the Director of Operations of the hotel, Ebi Emmanuel Seimodei, appreciated the visiting FTAN team and highlighted all the coronavirus preventive measures the hotel had put in place for guests and staff safety at the beginning of the outbreak; even before the Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic.
She assured FTAN that enforcement of the coronavirus preventive measures in the hotel is total, noting that all guests, including Nigerian and foreigners, must have their temperatures taken and use the lavishly provided hand sanitizers before being allowed entry into the hotel.
Subsequently, the FTAN team went to Rockview Hotels and Kapital Klub Apartments where the management of the hotels displayed professionalism in their enforcement of the Coronavirus preventive measures.
At both hotels, the visiting team met the hotels’ Health and Safety Officials and their General Managers, who elaborately showcased their guest temperature checking equipment and different types of hand sanitizers for guests and staff, including mounted and hand-held sanitizers.
Alhaji Badaki Aliyu, the General Manager of Kapital Klub Apartments said “the fight against the spread of Covid-19 is everyone’s fight, especially for all staff and every guest. In the early days when we saw the contagious nature of Coronavirus, we immediately invested in staff training to prepare and equip our team on how to handle guests and deliver memorable hotel experiences, without compromising public health safety and personal hygiene.
This is our industry; hence we have to contribute to keeping it afloat.”
Rabo said, “the travel agency business in Nigeria, for instance, is being terribly hit by the pandemic. The travel agency sub-sector has lost over N160 billion since the outbreak, which had been heralded with mass flight cancellations by domestic and international airlines.”
Notwithstanding, the President of FTAN indicated that these sensitisation visits would be replicated in each of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, led by each FTAN zonal Vice-Presidents.
He assured travel and tourism reporters that the visits would be sustained and extended to airports, train stations, entry ports and other relevant tourist handling facilities across Nigeria.