By Ragan M. Conteh
He further recounted that the insecurity and poor marketing strategies has greatly threatened the operations of hotels owners in the country.
Swiss Hotel owner situated at Spur Road, Ramesh Tewmmekwon has said in Parliament on Wednesday that Government especially Parliament has the responsibility to enact strong laws that will protect investors and tourists in Sierra Leone.
The Swiss Hotel Owner disclosed that hotels owners and managers have witnessed a downtrend of visitors in the last one year due to several factors including lawlessness, political violence, and harassment of visitors along the beaches.
This according to him sends a negative signal to the outside world.
Ramesh Tewmmekwon also attributed the low tourist attraction to the location of the country’s International Airport which he noted requires tourists to cross through a river and that most tourist are afraid to take such ventures.
He noted that government has a responsibility to undertake proper marketing of the country. The country according to him seriously lacks Leisure tourists, who are key for any country’s development.
Ramesh Tewmmekwon revealed that, most of the Sierra Leoneans workers employed in their hotels do not have any clue or knowledge of what the country should offer to visitors or tourists.
He called on government to develop strict laws, execute strong a hospitality culture,improve electricity distribution and generations especially in hotels and touristic sites across the country and lastly curb the rampant spate of lawlessness.
Operation Manager Swiss Hotel, Sadel Kelfel stated that, Sierra Leone is a potential touristic nation but expressed his dismay that government is not doing much to attract investors into the country.
He implored on Government to take the issue of marketing the country’s tourism potential seriously.