Afeku warns hotel Operators to stop charging in dollars

Ghana’s Tourism Minister has cautioned the various players in the hospitality industry to stop charging in foreign currencies, especially, in the US dollars.

According to her, Ghana’s laws currently prohibits the practice and this is said to be one of the reasons for the current pressure on the cedi.

Madam Catherine Afeku speaking to journalists explained that, there is an ongoing dialogue between the regulators and the industry players to ensure they comply with Bank of Ghana’s laws and desist from the practice.

“It is a fact and we’ve been meeting them and they’ve also put some things on the table that there’s a multiplicity of taxes and that they have issues but that does not allow them to break the law.

“So, we’re having a stakeholder engagement with them through our regulatory agency, Ghana Tourism Authority, to ensure that we sanitise [the system]. In East Africa, you do not pay in foreign currency, you pay in the local currency.” – she said.

Madam Afeku believes when the initiative of the Ministry is obtained, the high level of pressure on the Ghana Cedi will be sustainable for better prospects on the future growth of the tourism sector. 

“The regulatory agency under the Ministry of Tourism is working through the associations, we are working with them to meet their needs so that [they will comply].

“The truth is; we’ve more than 5,000 establishments and the big names are the ones practising this [charging in dollars]. If you go to Nzulezu and you are going to stay in a room, they charge you in cedis, it is the big ones in the regional capitals that are culpable and, so, we don’t want to lump all of them together, it is the few and they are the ones that we are engaging and telling them that it is not good.” – she added.