Imo State Sets To Shut Low Standard Hotels

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 sanitize,
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".