Sisay Teklu, senior expert at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
The number of hotels in the country has significantly increased particularly over the last few years. Just a decade ago there were only 50 to 60 hotels while there are currently some 350 (about 100 of them in Addis) that are expected to fall under five-star to basic rating categories that can provide services ranging from highly rated to the basic ones.
These hotels are expected to accommodate 20,000 to 30,000 guests where the presence of lodges and guests houses will increase that number. Amidst the growing number of tourists and visitors in the country, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is suddenly up to watch out the quality of services these hotels render by setting out a rating criterion of “international standard,” whose sudden enforcement somehow created confusion amongst hoteliers and those who own hotels, lodges and restaurants. Sisay Teklu, senior expert at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, spoke to The Reporter’s Hayal Alemayehu about the rating criteria and related topics. Excerpts:
Scores of hotels built over the last ten years have long become self-styled star hotels, a good number of them ranking themselves as four- and-five-star resorts, simply because your ministry has not been able to provide the hotel rating service over the last decade. Now you are urging hoteliers and those who own motels, resorts and restaurants to have their resorts be graded in less than a month time where many of are not prepared for it. Why the urgency all of a sudden? Would that be achievable at all in such a short period of time?
Ethiopia’s image to the world has been significantly changing. More and more tourists are now willing to come to the country. The current unrest in North Africa has been forcing tourists to come to east Africa and Ethiopia. International tour operators are more than ever before considering East Africa and Ethiopia as some of ideal tourist destinations. Given the fact that Ethiopia has been gaining more and more recognition in the political world and it is the seat of a number of UN and international organizations and agencies there have been increasing efforts to host various international events in the country. In addition to that, the number and the flow of tourists have been steadily increasing worldwide to our advantage. All this makes it mandatory for hotels, resorts and restaurants catering to tourists to offer standard services in order to accommodate and attract more of them to come to Ethiopia. And there should be information regarding the number and the presence of star hotels and resorts as well as those that offer basic services to tourists. The tourism sector demands all these. In fact, east and west African countries have long set out a common standard and rating criteria and the same is true with EU countries and other regions.
Aside from this, the government has recently issued a Trade Registration and Licensing Proclamation that requires existing businesses and startups, including those engaged in or about to in the hospitability sector, to get a competence certificate from the respective government agency before securing or renewing their licenses. And this proclamation will be enforced after two weeks or so, hence the other reason for the urgency.
But one month seems too short to carry out such a task, particularly from the service providers side, as it would presumably be very difficult for them to adjust their facilities to meet the criterion to become star-rated operators. In most cases, it may even require them to undertake partially reconstruction or so. How would you take that?
[Despite time constraints] the task should be started [anyway] for the reasons aforementioned. There could be challenges and shortcomings in executing the job, both from the government side and from the service providers, but those challenges and shortcomings could be addressed in the course of time. There could be time constraints in undertaking the job [but that is the stand of the government].
The department assigned to grade these facilities under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will be conducting follow-up evaluations every three years as stipulated in the pertinent directive. Hoteliers and other related service providers say this potentially could become another problem for them and suggest that the follow-up inspections should take place every year or so as they could remake or adjust their facilities to meet the rating standards in one year or so. Isn’t that a legitimate concern that deserves to be recognized by the authorities and still an advantage that may provide some room for some that may operate below the ranking for an extended time after the initial rating is carried out?
That is right. This has been a persistent complaint being raised by the pertinent businesses and investors and which may as well provide some room for those which might take it into there advantage. The respective directive stipulate a follow-up inspection will be conducted every three years after the facilities are once rated while the practice in other countries indicate that such follow-up evaluation takes place every year or two. This is being serving as an input to the ministry and may accordingly be reviewed.
According to the pertinent directive, employees holding managerial positions should be graduates from higher institutions with degrees in the field of hotel and tourism and need to have a six-year or more experience in the field, should that particular hotel be rated as a high ranking star hotel? Given the fact that there are barely higher institutions in the country that offer such discipline at that level, wouldn’t that be another challenge difficult to overcome for the hoteliers?
It is true that there has for a long time been only one higher institution which has been providing a program in the hotel and tourism discipline at that level. However, there are some private colleges and universities that have been providing courses in the hotel and tourism sector field over the last five years in different parts of the country. And the number of secondary schools training students in the hotel and tourism sector at a medium level is increasing to the extent that some graduates could not still secure jobs.
But what comes under question is the quality of the training and education being given both in the private higher institutions and in secondary technical and vocational schools especially in the hotel and tourism field, which potentially may fail these institutions to produce such competent and skilled labor the industry demands. Don’t you think?
Well, the quality of education being given at higher education as a whole is, I think, under question. However, although it cannot be said that the problem with availability of competent and skilled manpower in the hotel and tourism sector is totally done away with, it has somehow improved over the last several years. What those investors and businesses in the hotel and related sub-sectors should do is recruit those graduates from these higher institutions and technical and vocational schools and provide them with further higher-level education in the field eventually. This is about cost-sharing at the end of the day.
One of the major criteria you set out to rate the hotels and other related facilities seems to be more subjective, with the evaluation variables consisting of such ratings as “excellent,” “very good” and “fair” with respect to the interior and exterior look of a given hotel or resort, where the parameter for such ratings is not explicit and distinct. Wouldn’t that make the ranking a bit difficult and subject to bias?
These rating items might be a little bit ambiguous and subjective. But we have put in place some numerical parameters where such ratings for, say a five-star deluxe hotel or a five-star hotel or a four-star hotel fall under, which minimize the subjectivity of the ratings, if not avoid it altogether. There would still be some room for subjectivity in such ratings. The subjectivity of such rating will be done away in a course of time. That is at least, what is being expected to be the case.
Some hoteliers fear that they would fail to meet one of the criteria that makes it mandatory for high-ranking star hotels to have electronically functioning doors to their rooms. How would that affect the ratings?
But many have already made it even before we introduced the criteria. It is not necessarily a must to have electronically functioning doors for hotels to be rated as star resorts. Yet failing to have them would, of course, minimize the rating points.
One of the criteria you introduced for rating hotels is that if a given hotel is a two-storey building, it is mandatory for that hotel to have one or more elevators according to the number of rooms it sports in order to be rated as a four- or five-star hotel. Ironically however, the building code of the country stipulates that buildings having less than five floors may not to be equipped with elevators. How would that be reconciled?
The building code could be revised and made to reconcile with the rating standards in the future. However, the hoteliers are not forced to equip their hotels with elevators. But installing them would, of course, raise the rating points for a given hotel.
So here is where the time constraint surfaces for them, the hoteliers, to adjust or remake their facility, don’t you think?
But we have introduced the criteria a year ago to the hoteliers via their association.
But fifty percent of the hoteliers are not members of that association. Isn’t that so?
Well it is unlikely to say they were not been informed about it. All the same, the job has to be launched and shortcomings could be rectified in a course of time.
What are the major items of the rating criteria?
The status and the look of hotels buildings and the rooms and the facilities inside them will have higher values. There about twenty major elements in the rating criteria.
Where do you think most of the hotels would fail in meeting the rating criteria?
Most may attain lower ratings than their expectations in areas where reconstruction is required. Other than that, they may in the future improve the other criteria which are easier to adjust to. I hope most of the hotels would fail in the medium category: a three-star, two-star, one-star or basic hotel categories, the last one providing only basic facilities for tourists.
What would securing high ranking rates provide the would-be high ranking star hotels at the end of the day?
Higher-ranking star hotels and related facilities will be given higher incentives or get more privilege in the future aside from getting the recognition.
source: ethiopianreporter