Govt To Shut Low Standard Hotels In Imo

Imo State Government
has warned that it would summarily shut any hotel which operates below approved standard, including the installation and use of relevant security devices.
The Commissioner for Transport and Tourism, Mr. Ken Anaeme, read the riot act in Owerri, while briefing newsmen on Government’s tourism roadmap for the state.
“This measure is part of the state government’s effort to sanitise, strengthen and boost tourism in the state”, the Commissioner explained.
Anaeme, who debunked allegations of government imposition of N40,000 on each hotel proprietor in the state for the purchase of a piece of the nations flag, however explained that a neutral body, mutually selected by the government and the hoteliers, is rather in charge of the project.
“The N40,000 levy was a product of mutual agreement between the hotel owners and the company in question”, Anaeme explained.
He identified the economic benefits of tourism to include job creation, business promotion, site seeing, rural transformation and spiritual upliftment.
Chief Anaeme also disclosed that the state currently boasts of over 200 hotels and over 150 tourist sites, some of which are either fully developed or are undergoing development.
The Commissioner drew attention to government’s free education programme, road construction, general hospitals, provision of infrastructural facilities and the Blue Lake of Treasure at Oguta, which according to him, “are all geared toward promoting tourism in the state”.