Hotels proprietors in the country under the aegis of Nigeria Hotels Association have decried the continuous inter states travel ban imposed by the federal government to contain the spread of Coronavirus, saying it has crippled their hotels and other businesses.

National president of the association, Mr Eze Patrick Anyanwu, while addressing journalists at a press conference held at Zaranda Hotel, Bauchi, yesterday said, they had recorded huge losses since the imposition of the travel ban.

He noted that 95 per cent of their customers were travellers, who come from other states, lamenting also that many hotels had resorted to borrowing money from banks for the maintenance of the facilities and staff salaries.

Anyanwu, who stated that hotels contribute immensely to national development especially, through provision of jobs to numerous citizens, urged the federal government to include them among beneficiaries of the Covid-19 palliatives to save their businesses from collapse.

Above all, the request of our financial palliative through the umbrella of Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN) as a special intervention is hereby being stressed again.

“I want to use this opportunity to inform the federal government that the hospitality industry is very important in this country. We are the ones accommodating your visitors coming into the country from all over the world. We are contributing immensely to the economy of this country.”

According to the hotel proprietors, if markets and places of worship, which could gather people could be opened, the federal government should also lift inter states ban, assuring government that the hotels would comply with Covid-19 safety protocols.

Thisday