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Mr. Charles Adu- Gyamfi, National president of the Ghana Progressive Hoteliers Association (GPHA) has appealed to the government to extend the electricity relief package for another three months to help sustain the hotel industry.

He observed that the businesses of the hostel industry have greatly been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had lead to some workers being laid - off and the complete shutdown of some hotels.

Mr. Adu Gyamfi made the appeal when the Association briefed the media at Fiapre near Sunyani in the Bono Region as part of the Association’s 10th anniversary celebration to deliberate on the impact of COVID -19 and the way forward.

Mr. Adu Gyamfi said members of the Association have suffered the heat of COVID-19 and any additional burden on electricity would lead to the total collapsed of almost all hotels in the country, he said

Mr. Adu-Gyamfi explained that a facility with about 80 workers had laid- off its workers to about 10 workers.

He said conferences, which used to be the main fetching events at the hotels were no more because of the social distancing protocol and that of the 100 seating capacities put in place by the government, has been the greatest challenge to the Association in hosting conferences.

Mr. Adu-Gyamfi called for the quick disbursement of the government economic stimulus package to mitigate the adverse effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on businesses since the members of the Association were waiting for their portion of the package.

“The stimulus package would help the Association to stay in business and to keep their employers in jobs,” he added.

Mr. Adu-Gyamfi noted that the hoteliers business contributed a lot to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and also help in solving the unemployment situation in the country by offering employment to the youth.