The Oyo State Government on Thursday started a sensitisation exercise to sanitise the hospitality sector by calling on hoteliers to register their facilities accordingly.
The state government, via its Ministry of Culture and Tourism, put the exercise together in partnership with the Hoteliers Association of Nigeria, Oyo State Chapter.
The exercise, scheduled to last two weeks in Ibadan, was flagged off by the state Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Wasiu Olatubosun.
Olatubosun said the sensitisation teams would visit all hotels in Ibadan with letters expounding to owners the benefits of having their hotels registered.
“They are all expected to come and register at the tourism board. After it is concluded here in Ibadan, the various teams will move to other zones in the state.
“We will spend another three weeks to cover the other zones. All zones in the state will be covered in the next five weeks,” he said.
He, however, appealed to hoteliers in the state to cooperate with them.
“Aside from hoteliers doing the needful, the state government also wants to assist hoteliers in their businesses, so we can have a database that will make room for smooth planning and operations,” he said.
The commissioner personally delivered letters to some hotels within the Bodija axis of Ibadan.
Meanwhile, the state president of the association, Mr Ayodele Ogundele, supported the drive to have a database of all hotels in the state.
This, he said, was very important for security reasons and pivotal for developmental reasons.
“It is not possible to develop without having data, but really, how many jobs or industries can you enter without some form of registration?
“Ordinarily, if you buy a tricycle, you can’t just put it on the road and start picking passengers without registering.
“We are also trying to forestall any problem in the future, taking for instance what happened in the city of Ife some years back; we don’t want such in our state,” he said.
The head hotelier in the state lamented the situation whereby people run the hospitality business without the knowledge of what it entails and the rules guiding the sector.
“For instance, many hotels don’t know that they need to have a copy of a lodger’s Identify Card.
“With the upsurge in Airbnb, apartments, and suites, there’s a need to take precautions.
“Everyone is, actually, welcome onboard, but they must do all that’s needed to be in the business,” he said.
According to him, the state is trying to create data for a directory to know how to assist in the future based on the income they are making from the hospitality business.
“We all heard about how much was made in Lagos during the ‘Detty December’ and right now, all states are envious of that.
“Now, Oyo State has hit the ground running, trying to prepare itself for the next Detty December.
“Prior to this sensitisation, we have many hotels registering but never looking back.
“We are emphasising that the registration is not just about money but also about dissemination of information because people pay for registration and never come back or leave a forwarding address.
“We’ve had well over a thousand members who have registered, but not all attend meetings or get updates from the association.
“Now, we want everyone on board, no matter how big or small your hotel is,” he said