General News of Saturday, 5 September 2020

Source: GNA

GTA, GACL sensitise tour operators on coronavirus protocols

Hotel managers have been advised to have doctors on-call Hotel managers have been advised to have doctors on-call

The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) in partnership with Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) has organised a sensitisation workshop on operational guidelines for tour operators following the re-opening of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

Mr Alex Boakye, Manager, Standards and Quality Assurance, GTA, asked hotels to have on-call doctors and prepare well-ventilated rooms for clients.

He also encouraged them to use alcohol-based sanitizers for surfaces not suitable for the use of bleach and stressed that clients had their luggage disinfected before they were checked-in.

Mr Victor Sosu Gakpey, Operations Manager, GACL, said measures had been put in place for passengers on arrivals to go through including taking samples of passengers for testing before leaving the airport.

He urged operators of tourist sites to observe social distancing, wear nose masks, and provide handwashing stations and turn away visitors who did not adhere to the Covid-19 protocols.

Mr Gakpe asked them to take full details of visitors before allowing them access to the sites for easy contacting and that organising of events at tourist sites should be done with strict adherence to all COVID-19 safety protocols.

"No face mask, no entry should be at entrants of sites, event capacity should be reduced to 50 percent, social distancing and also handwashing stations should be provided at vantage points of the centres," he stressed.

Mr Akwesi Agyemang, Chief Executive Officer of the GTA, said the tourism industry had been the hardest hit by COVID-19 but hopeful it would bounce back with the easing of restrictions.