By Aminata Phidelia Allie
The Managing Director of LEOWEN Touristik, a German-based Marketing and Public Relations Company has described one of Sierra Leone’s lead hotels, Bintumani Hotel, as “an eyesore” to tourists.
Agnes Kah, who was a guest of Sierra Leone's National Tourism Board on a familiarization and market research visit to the country, made the statement at the Chinese-run Bitumani Hotel in Freetown where she put up throughout her seven-day stay in the country.
Her visit was in fulfillment of the Board’s Marketing Strategy to promote and market Sierra Leone with a view of generating interest about the country’s tourism potentials and opportunities.
Mrs. Kah said that much as tourists wanted to travel they would rather they slept in tents they always travelled with, than in one of the suites at the hotel, adding that most of the hotel attendants were uneducated. “The hotel needs to educate its staff. A business investor only comes when there are appropriate infrastructures in place, the country needs solid eco-tourist infrastructures”, she said.
Kah went on that she wanted to sell Sierra Leone to the Germans because they were the travel leaders of the world. Africa, she said is “an able tourist destination”.
She said that “although Sierra Leone has the potentials to attract tourists and investors, the government has to promote these potentials by getting the people involved and telling them what tourism is all about”, she observed and furthered that “the first thing that comes to a tourist’s mind as he prepares to travel is where he is going to sleep”.
Responding to the allegations, the Deputy General Manager of Bintumani Hotel, Dunstana Thompson, said the criticism was “unfair”. She said the hotel is up to standard with a swimming pool, a games room, gym, lawn tennis court, three car parks and “an excellent ambiance”.
Ms Thompson said that they received no complaints from any of the guests who “filled up” the country's largest hotel even during the recent elections.
On the issue of staff, she said that they were training them with the recent batch of four having returned in October from China. She said they also send their staff to training organised by the National Tourist Board as well as internal courses organised by the hotel management for every department.
Meanwhile the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Victoria Saidu-Kamara said that the days of neglecting the industry were over and that the president, on his re-election had promised to give the industry a facelift. She said that one-third of the country’s unemployment problems would be over when tourism is “off the ground”.
She said that the country had many unexplored treasures adding that it “is a real treasure in Africa. We should not be ashamed to talk about what we have, I am not ashamed.”
The minister said that they were going to review the National Tourism Act of 1990 as her ministry was ready to regulate the industry with “modern tools”.
