13th December, 2010
Lagos State is planning to regulate and classify the hospitality industry to further the state’s mega city goals.
This was made known by Senator Tokunboh Afikuyomi, Commissioner for Tourism and Intergovernmental Relations, at the Lagos Tourism Lecture series held at the Eko Mix Studio House, Lateef Jakande road, Ikeja. The lecture was titled Regulation, Classification And Standardisation Of Hospitality Industry
The guest speaker, Mr. Trevor J. Ward, Managing Director, W. Hospitality Group, international experts in hotels, tourism and cuisine, who was represented by Damilola Adepoju, said with the level of growth of the industry in the past decade, it is imperative that there should be a legal frame work to regulate the industry.
The new policies that are being introduced would ensure that new entrants and existing properties in the market are properly registered and monitored by the authority.
“It is important that hospitality establishments operating in Lagos are regulated to ensure standards especially in the area of safety, sanitisation and food hygiene,” he said.
According to Afikuyomi, hotels, restaurants are meant to be licensed. He said: “The process of ensuring that Lagos joins the rank of world-class cities, in terms of its hospitality industry, need not be a tedious task. In fact, it is important that the authorities ensure that the regulation and standardisation process does not become too cumbersome for business.
“The industry here is still a growing one and care must be taken that policies intended to help grow the industry do not end up scaring away potential investors,â€Â Adepoju stated.
A new hotel just applied for classification within three months of commencing operations while already existing hotels may opt for classification at any stage. The classification is valid for five years,†she said.
According to her, the grading of these establishments is also a crucial step to enable the budding industry in Lagos join the ranks of world-class cities.
These processes are not just a global trend, but a norm. However, Lagos has the benefit of learning from mistakes made by counterpart cities around the globe and choosing a system that can best serve and be adapted to local market.
—Omisakin Tolulope