The President of Ghana Hotels Association (GHA), Dr. Edward Ackah Nyamikeh, has expressed that he is not shocked about the recent outstanding performance of the Hotel and Restaurants sub-sector, even though it has not completely recovered to meet its pre-COVID-19 performance.
The data provided by Ghana Statistical Services show a robust pick-up in the Hotel and Restaurants sub-sector. Despite recording a negative growth in the second quarter of 2020, the sub-sector rebounded strongly by 18.7 percent same period this year.
In terms of growth rate, GSS indicated that the Hotel and Restaurants sub-sector is the third highest sub-sector under the Services sector.
During an interview, Dr. Nyamikeh said members of the Hotel and Restaurants sub-sector are impressed with the sub-sector’s operations so far, despite some challenges. To him, he’s so impressed because the members of the sub-sector leveraged on the ease in the pandemic-induced restrictions to expand their business during some festive periods.
“I’m not surprise at all. I’ll rather say I’m impressed about the performance of hotels and restaurants in the second quarter of 2021, even though we still have a long way to catch up with pre-COVID-19 performance.
“I’m impressed because hotels and restaurants took advantage of the removal of some restrictions associated with conferences and restaurants as well as the festivities that featured in the second quarter such as the Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Muslim Holiday and so forth. That quarter also saw some reduction in the fear and panic associated with Covid-19 until the recent third wave.”
Dr. Edward Ackah Nyamikeh
According to the President of GHA, the recent performance of the Hotel and Restaurant sub-sector show signs of positive times ahead. As such, he urged the government to assist the sub-sector in order to achieve better results.
“So, for me, the improved performance in the second quarter speaks of the resilience of the hotel sector and therefore the need for the necessary support to get the best from the sector.”
Dr. Edward Ackah Nyamikeh
Economy sustains recovery
Ghana’s economy sustains its gradual recovery after the dire effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. After expanding by 3.1 percent in the first quarter of 2021, Ghana’s economy grew by 3.9 percent in the second quarter in the same year, according to the provisional data from Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The current expansion of 3.9 percent in the second quarter of 2021 percent compares to a contraction of 5.7 percent same period last year.
Meanwhile, the sustained recovery of the economy was underpinned by a significant growth in the Services sector. The Sector recorded a growth rate of 11.0 percent in the second quarter of 2021 relative to 4.0 percent recorded the first quarter.
The Health and Social Work, Information and Communication Technology as well as the Hotel and Restaurants sub-sectors were the main drivers of the Sector’s growth in the second quarter of 2021. The Health and Social Work sub-sector recorded a strong growth of 20.75 percent. Also, the Information and Communication sub-sector grew by 20.0 percent.
