Madam Efua Houadjeto, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), has urged tourism and hospitality stakeholders across Africa to strengthen partnerships, embrace innovation and improve service standards to enhance the continent’s global tourism competitiveness.
She said the hospitality industry must move beyond traditional tourism promotion by focusing on excellence, strategic partnerships and world-class service delivery.
Madam Houadjeto made the call at the eighth Hotel Managers Conference Africa held in Lagos, Nigeria, on the theme: “Raising the Bar: Sales, Service and Standards for a Competitive Africa.”
She described tourism as one of Africa’s most powerful drivers of economic growth, employment creation, investment attraction and cultural diplomacy, saying the hospitality sector remained central to achieving those objectives.
Madam Houadjeto said hotels often shaped visitors’ first and last impressions of a destination, making quality service essential to strengthening destination reputation and encouraging repeat visits.
“Hotels are far more than places where visitors spend the night. They are often the first impression of a destination and the last memory a traveller takes home,” she said.
She urged hotel professionals across the continent to serve as ambassadors for Africa by delivering memorable experiences that reflected the continent’s warmth, culture and excellence.
Speaking on the conference theme, Madam Houadjeto identified sales, service and standards as the three key pillars for improving Africa’s competitiveness in the global tourism market.
She called on tourism operators to embrace digital transformation, data-driven marketing and innovative partnerships to attract modern travellers, noting that visitors increasingly relied on digital platforms when making travel decisions.
The GTA Chief Executive also stressed the need for continuous staff training, innovation and a culture of service excellence to complement Africa’s rich natural attractions, cultural heritage and tourism assets.
On quality assurance, she said maintaining internationally competitive standards should reinforce rather than diminish Africa’s unique cultural identity by promoting consistency, safety and visitor confidence.
Madam Houadjeto urged African countries to collaborate more closely instead of competing individually, describing Ghana and Nigeria as strategic tourism partners with shared history, culture, creative industries and significant tourism potential.
She called for stronger collaboration among tourism boards, airlines, hotels, tour operators and investors to develop regional travel circuits that would enable visitors to explore multiple African destinations seamlessly.
According to her, such partnerships would increase hotel occupancy, stimulate investment, create jobs and boost tourism receipts across the continent.
The conference brought together tourism leaders, hotel owners, managers, policymakers, industry associations and development partners from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, Liberia, Uganda, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
