How not to develop the tourism sector

How not to develop the tourism sector

I could not help but wonder how the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission got itself involved in the strong arm tactics being employed by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation to get hotel owners to register with it ostensibly for security reasons.

The NTDC, charged with promoting the tourism sector and developing its potential as a huge source of non-oil revenue and an avenue for job creation has been engaged in a long running battle with hoteliers over this registration matter and has actually closed down some hotels in Abuja for failing to pay certain operational fees levied by the parastatal.

It could be argued safely that the NTDC is merely doing its job, after all, the NTDC enabling Act Decree 81 of 1992 (now Cap 137 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004) empowers the corporation to regulate, register all operators of hotels, motels, resorts, restaurants, eateries, travel and tours, tourism consultants and other hospitality and tourism outfits in Nigeria.

The focus on hotels is understandable as they form a critical part of the tourism value chain just as airlines, travel agencies and tour operators, restaurants, theatres and clubs, taxi drivers as well as security agencies.

While there is no denying the fact that the NTDC under the present director general, Otunba Segun Runsewe has been quite active in drawing attention to the sector and has partnered with both private and public sector entities in the attempt to move the industry forward, getting the EFCC to threaten hotels with closure for failing to supply certain information within two weeks starting from April 4 appears rather drastic.

The problem appears to be that while the NTDC wants to assert its regulatory role in the operations of hotels with the added advantage of increasing its revenue base from levies imposed for licensing fees and renewals, the hoteliers are resisting the on the grounds that and they are already groaning under the yoke of multiple taxation since they also pay levies and charges to local and state governments, which even the government admits account for up to 30 per cent of costs.

For sure, getting a data bank of hotels and other similar establishments in Nigeria is a basic function of the NTDC and I cannot imagine any reputable hotelier that would want be left out, but with some states such as Lagos insisting that they have the power to license and regulate hotels in their respective jurisdictions puts the hoteliers in a quandary of sorts.

Indeed, Lagos State just a few weeks ago asked hoteliers in the state to ignore the NTDC as they were subject to its Hotel and Licensing Amendment Law of 2010 and the Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant Consumption Law enacted in 2009.

A government spokesman argued that the state had provided the enabling environment to enable to tourism to thrive and by implication, should reap the benefits of its investments.

However, the EFCC, ever ready to take to spotlight, claimed that its investigations have shown that hotels that refused to provide information were criminal establishments used to perpetrate all sorts of crime. It said over 3,000 hotels nationwide were either not registered with the NTDC or had no signboards making their identification difficult.

It is therefore going to embark on a massive operation to comb for hotels in this category and close them down.

It must be admitted that the EFCC while claims cannot be discountenanced given that hotel patrons with criminal intentions can hide their identities, a blanket condemnation of those not on the NTDC list may be misplaced.

I think the case should be made for the states to handle to hotel registration matter being closer to the ground as it were. The information gathered can be filed with the NTDC.

If it a revenue issue, the revenues collected can be shared between the NTDC and states so that the hoteliers who need to contend with all manner of costs associated with running business in our infrastructure deficient environment will not be overburdened especially under a new tax policy regime that seeks to eliminate multiple taxation.

It should also be noted that the Federal Government filed an action last August before the Supreme Court seeking a determination of which tier of government should regulate hotels and allied establishments which is yet to be heard.

Going forward, however, the NTDC needs to partner is a highly proactive manner with other stakeholders in the tourism sector to enable Nigeria reap the benefits of the abundance of tourism sites and destinations which remain largely undeveloped apart from the big five-star hotels in big cities and small beach resorts.

The Tourism Master Plan, which has recommends among others the development of the five identified tourism clusters; encouragement private development of private three-star and boutique hotels; investments in tourism sites; development of a national cultural calendar; protection of national parks; increasing security nationwide and branding and marketing Nigeria as a prime tourism destination to the global market appears to be gathering dust.

This should be the focus of the NTDC.