Though the hotel industry, which embraces, a wide spectrum of services is flourishing in the left, right and center of the country, the desired goal is not achieved yet owing to the presence of various bottlenecks shackling the hands and feet of the industry, disclosed Wondwossen Tegegn, the General Manager of Ambassador Hotel and owner of Seven Glory Consultancy.
In the interview he gave to The Ethiopian Herald, “In the past, there were finger counted hotels all over the country. However, in this day and age, the number of hotels available in Addis Ababa is not less than two hundred. They range from one star hotel to five star ones. This is made possible despite challenges holding back the development of the industry to some extent as they should be.”
He stressed that the major quandary in the hotel industry is the high turnover of professionals time and time again. To be honest, this is the outcome of the expansion of hotels in the length and breadth of the country. Considering the spreading out of hotels, job opportunities in the hotel industry is getting higher now and again. This is a great achievement for the country.
He further stressed that investors more often than not attach significance to the profitability of the business turning a blind eye to the other important constituents of the hotel industry. Investors should know the nitty-gritty of the industry before they get themselves involved in the sector. Every so often, most of them do not attach value to what the industry seeks except turning their back on the biggest component of the hotel-hospitality industry.
He added, “Merely owning a beautiful hotel with no satisfactory service is meaningless and does not help harvest the fruit of success. To the best of my knowledge, value should be attached to hospitality given that it is an act of kindness. Likewise, there are bottlenecks in connection with policy making and other related aspects.
For instance, it has been more than a decade since a degree program in Hotel Management jumpstarted in Hawassa and Gondar. At that specific point, they were not fully fledged. Besides, students were not provided with practical knowledge and skills except showering them with theories.”
He concluded by saying as hospitality is an international industry and seventy percent of the customers are internationals ones, professionals in the hotel industry should bring themselves into line with the sought-after world standard hotel knowledge and skills. Therefore, hotels should be able to possess their own training centers which help them produce competent professionals in the industry.
The Ethiopian Herald, June 30/2019
BY ADDISALEM MULAT AND MUSSA MOHAMMED
