.MASEBO

By REBECCA MUSHOTA –

GOVERNMENT will this year decentralise the issuance of licences for hospitality facilities, Tourism and Arts Minister Sylvia Masebo has said.

Ms Masebo said at a meeting with the Hotel and Catering Association of Zambia (HCAZ) at the Savoy Hotel in Ndola yesterday that local authorities would be mandated to issue licences to hospitality facilities.

Ms Masebo said this would be done to make the process of obtaining licences cheaper and easier.

“This year, councils need to start issuing licences to lodges, guest houses and other establishments so that a person does not travel out of town to get a hospitality licence,” she said.

Ms Masebo said the ministry of Tourism and Arts would this year work on putting and classifying hotels and lodges in their appropriate grades.

Currently, she said, there was no proper mechanism to grade hotels and lodges and no mechanism to classify establishments into hotels, motels, lodges or rest houses.

Ms Masebo said the ministry would work closely with HCAZ to ensure that the proposals were carried out appropriately.

“By the end of March this year, the hotel manager’s registration council would be established to ensure that hospitality establishments were run by trained people to ensure professionalism in the sector which would attract approval from the public,” she said.

Ms Masebo also said while accommodation facilities were increasing in Zambia, the standards were not high in most establishments.

The Ministry of Tourism and Arts would therefore concentrate on inspecting the accommodation facilities to ensure that high standards were attained.

Ms Masebo also urged the HCAZ members to come up with packages that encouraged a change in the spending culture of Zambians and make their prices competitive in the region.

“Come up with packages that promote family outings but for that to happen, your prices need to be affordable to the ordinary civil servant,” she said.