Tourism sector in Akwa Ibom has registered over 1000 tourist centres across the state as a measure to check the scourge of severe wave of Corona virus pandemic.
Speaking in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital on Tuesday, the Chairman of Akwa Ibom Hotels Management and Tourism Board, Mr Akpabio observed that hotels and other hospitality outfits were critical centres to spread Corona virus and that accurate registration would ensure strict monitoring and compliance to Covid-19 protocols by key players in the tourism sector.
He said Task Force for implementation of Covid-19 guidelines and protocols which has been set up last year would reinforce implementation of Covid-19 protocols in all hotels, eateries, Clubs and drinking parlours across the state.
“The Tourism sector is currently documenting all hotels and Tourism establishments in the state. In doing so, the idea is that you cannot take a sector if you don’t know who are there. You can only plan when you have accurate number involved in the business.
“Therefore, we are documenting all hotels and Tourism, we have got over 1000 documented. More would be registered. We are documenting our sector players both digitally and analogue. This means we can always access them.
“The aim of this documentation is to impose levies on them. These levies would help both government and the operators. Through this levies, the board would generate funds. And the state can also increase her Internally Generate Revenue (IGR) index,” he said.
Akpabio explained that the documentation would also assist the Tourism Board to monitor implementation of Covid-19 guidelines and protocols in all tourists’ centres across the state to prevent spread of the pandemic.
He said the task force earlier set up last year to monitor compliance to Covid-19 guidelines by hotels would soon commence operations to ascertain the level of adherence to the rule.
He listed lack of funds as major challenge to the task force, but maintained that the board must generate money to meet this obligation.
“We have to generate funds without waiting for government. There are many areas of financial interventions in our assignment,” he said.