In its determination to create a working document for regulation and standardisation of hospitality business in Nigeria, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) through its National Mirror Committee (NMC) on Tourism and related activities, has successfully completed work on the first ever national framework grading and classification of hotels in the country once approved.
Speaking at an event in Lagos, recently, the Head, Ogun State office 1 of SON, Mr Enebi Shaibu Onucheyo who represented the Director-General of SON, Osita Anthony Aboloma, described the development as not only a great achievement, that would boost activities in the tourism industry, but also build confidence in the products and services offered by the industry in Nigeria.
He commended the Chairperson of the committee and Director-General of the National Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), Mrs Chika Balogun, other tourism associations and operators who have contributed to the success of the hotel standards document.
The inputs of the various stakeholders made it possible to produce the document which would inturn be presented to SON’s council and the international community such as the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) for approval before it can become operational.
The National Mirror Committee was inaugurated by SON in April 2016, in Lagos with the mandate to review and adopt the International Standard Organisation (ISO/T228) and Africa Organisation for Standardisation set up by ECOWAS in accordance with international best practices for use in the tourism industry.
Three other documents, which are meant for use in the Nigerian tourism industry were also presented and by the committee, making it four documents that were deliberated on and adopted.
Speaking on this development, Mrs Balogun, said it has great significant for tourism as it would further boost the image of the country, inspire confidence in investors, encourage more investment, create jobs and wealth for the country.
‘‘This would attract direct foreign, local and regional investments to the country and the tourism industry because investors would not want to put their money where they are not sure of growing their businesses. But with such an important document that has a framework of standards for hotels, it would boost the confidence of investors to trust the industry and invest in it.