African hospitality and its many socio-economic benefits

As African countries strive to tackle the socio-economic challenges that beset the continent, one area they may have to focus on for solution is the hospitality industry. That is one industry that is forecast to be a major growth driver for the continent as we begin the third decade of the 21st century.

The figures indicate great potential for the hospitality industry that requires very minimal foreign input to thrive and contribute to raising the standard of living on the continent. This should be good news in a continent that is almost totally dependent on outside help for even the basic ingredients for economic growth, as we are seeing in current moves in the direction of China and Europe for development of infrastructure in different countries, including Nigeria.

Such has been the phenomenal growth of the hospitality industry in Africa in the last few years that international hotel brands are looking more and more to the continent for increase in their business fortunes. Needless to say, indigenous brands are not standing by to watch. They have since joined the fray.

One would therefore not be far from the truth to say that there is, at the moment, a scramble for a piece of Africa’s hospitality cake by international and indigenous operators. This scramble is reflected in the frenzy with which hospitality operators are expanding their operations on the continent through building of new hotels outside areas where they currently operate.

The expansion will increase after the continent has assumed a new status as the world’s largest free trade area with the expected coming into operation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA), later in the year. The expectation is that apart from opening up the continent for more trade with other parts of the world, AfCTA would increase intra-African trade among countries on the continent. And with the relatively easy movement that will obtain within the free trade area for both outsiders and Africans, the demand for hospitality services will continue to be on the increase.

The situation in Africa’s hospitality industry as it stands today should give hope of an even brighter future for the continent in that area. The industry is contributing immensely to the continent’s effort to chart a new course that would lead to the much needed economic growth and improved standard of living of its peoples.

At the last count, the hospitality industry contributed over $194 billion to Africa’s economy, or 8.5 per cent of its GDP, as at 2018. The industry created 24.3 million jobs, which represented about 6.7 per cent of the total employment, in the same year. more the region has been thrown into avoidable jostle for power over who heads the agency and defines its future. The playout of this dispensation remains a sordid drama which in one vein pitches some communities in the region against each other over who produces the next head of the agency leaving the region fortunate if it ends well. In the other vein it also accentuates the vassal status of the region as one whose destiny is determined by factors and forces outside its immediate boundaries. This is the real face of the dilemma of the Niger Delta region which its leadership community have characteristically are yet to come to terms with. This is also why the region and its friends need to weep.

Even the present efforts at interventionist initiatives by the federal government through the PAP and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) are nothing beyond surrogate outfits by the government which are established with the intention of serving as palliatives to pacify the more active voices of protest in the region. They fall far short of the requirements for determinants of true and meaningful political and economic development of the region. Given the context of the circumstances that birthed their establishment, questions have been lingering over their utility in resolving the problems of the region and defining for it a deserving future as a self-reliant and viable political and economic zone. While it may sound outlandish to refer to them as failed entities, due to their undeniably abysmal performance in deploying the humongous resources availed them, it is also difficult to see them in a different light.

For instance, as at the last count the NDDC is undergoing a Presidency authorised forensic audit exercise to ascertain the good, bad and ugly turns in the fortunes of the resources availed it since its inception in 2001. Meanwhile even the forensic audit exercise itself

The significance of the contributions of hospitality to Africa’s economic growth must be looked at beyond the official numbers. What are the impacts it has made on the lives of those that work in the entire value chain of the industry? Apart from the direct employment it has created for skilled and unskilled workers who are engaged in hotels as managers, administrative staff, chefs, waiters, porters and maintenance staff, there are thousands outside the direct employment of hotels in the agroallied sector, transportation, clothing, etc. The more hotels that are built, the more there are jobs for these categories of people to engage in.

A direct fallout of the increase in employment generation by the hospitality industry in Africa is the opportunity it has afforded citizens of the different nationalities on the continent to acquire skills and competencies that are comparable with those in other parts of the world.

International hotels do not come to Africa with the full complement of staff from their home countries. They may come with people at the top management level, usually on secondment from their hotels in other parts of the world. But they need Africans to fill key and in some cases strategic positions in the hotels they set up on the continent. This means training Africans to fit into those positions.

The coming to Africa of international hotel brands has enabled indigenous hotels to is haunted by circumstances that already compromise its integrity. The happenings in that institution even with the troubled presidential audit, have hardly changed its character to anything different from a pay-master to friends of power - located this time, in the creeks. The grapevine is suffused with tales that the forensic exercise may have been compromised to serve as the clearing house for contractors who find themselves in the good books of the powers that be. Payments to the anointed ones are still ongoing even without proper verification of jobs done.

For clarification, it can be stated without equivocation that when the forensic audit was first announced, many communities across the Niger Delta region who were designated to benefit from projects by the NDDC, and which were not properly executed by the contractors, had hoped that they would get justice. However, this is yet to be seen as happening, with disappointment and despair spreading that some erring contractors will escape with their sins. This is so much for the interventionist exercises in the region!

Coming back to the Charles Dokubo affair, the appointment of a Caretaker Committee to probe the man’s tenure has attracted the attention of several stakeholders in the region; many of whom have placed the blame not only the man but also on the governance structure of the agency from inception which the man inherited.

In the prevailing circumstances, there is a question of whether the government will see in it the best opportunity for adopting a more sustainable leadership style for the PAP? This is a question that only the government can and should address. That is if its intentions for the region shall not remain suspect.

And just in case such happens, then the sack of Professor Charles Dokubo as boss of the PAP, would have served a better purpose. develop their own manpower to be able to offer services that meet international standards, since they must compete in the same market and for the pockets of the same class of guests. Many of those guests travel around the world and are used to the best standards. There are many African-owned hotels that are run wholly by Africans in all departments, with standard that meets the one offered by the big names. Hospitality has not only given Africans jobs, it has also given them the requisite skills needed to compete in the industry.

In the final analysis, the overall benefit of hospitality to Africa lies in the fact that it has raised the standard of living of a good number of people on the continent, if it is considered that apart from those in direct employment in hotels, there are thousands whose quality of live has improved through association with the industry. Parents are able to feed their families, cater to their health needs, the educational of their children, as well as some extra little social needs in various areas.

Ongoing expansion of hotels on the continent is a positive sign for the industry. It indicates an increasing role of the industry in the continent’s economic growth, with positive indices on the quality of life of its peoples.