CHALLENGES CONFRONTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA
Abstract
This the challenges confronting the development of hospitality industry in Nigeria. The data for this research work was collected from both primary and secondary sources of data. Sampling population is used to avoid possible errors in dealing with population. The population size was narrowed down to determine the sample size. A statistical formula was used in determining the sample size. Sample size of 80 was adopted for this study. The analysis was represented in tabular form for easy understanding and it consist the number of respondents and the corresponding percentage and chi – square was used as the statistical tools used for testing more than two population using data base on two independent random samples. The study concludes that effective management is key to organizational productivity. The study further recommended that the operating environment of the sector should be made conducive enough to attract foreign investors who will improve the level of service rendered by the operators in this sector.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study
The ILO definition of the ―tourism‖ component of the sector includes specific segments of transport, Beddoe, C., (2004) travel agencies and tour operators. Hotels, catering and restaurants are all considered by most organizations to belong to the ―tourism-characteristic industries‖ and are therefore subsumed under tourism. Blomme, R.; Rheede, A.V.; Tromp, D., (2009). International tourism includes business and professional travel, visiting friends and relatives, religious travel, and health treatments of travellers crossing a border and spending one or more nights in the host country. The hotel and restaurant subsectors analysed in this paper include data and information about accommodation (hotels, boarding houses, motels, tourist camps, holiday centres, resorts and youth/backpacker hostels) and wider hospitality (restaurants, bars, cafeterias, snack bars, pubs, nightclubs) and other similar establishments.
The Hospitality Industry is a ubiquitous one which spans hotels, bars, restaurants, theme parks and a host of other related businesses. Globally, it is a money spinning industry with billions of dollars to its credit even though in this part of the world, we are still grappling with putting the industry on the right pedestal so as to wholly benefit like other countries. Blomme, R.; Rheede, A.V.; Trump, D., (2009). Just like any other business running in Nigeria, there are areas of concentration – accommodation and restaurants which seemingly, is the ‘honey pot’ for practitioners in Nigeria. In recent times, the Nigerian economy has witnessed tremendous ‘growth’ in the hospitality industry leading to the emergence of hotels, fast food restaurant chains, night clubs and cruise lines. These positive trends in no small measure are clearly helping to re-define the face of the hospitality industry in Nigeria. Information on the street shows that the industry is booming. Nonetheless, the writer believes every Tom, Dick and Harry with adequate funds, is investing into the business with limited knowledge of the expertise required to run such business. Most of them forget that the industry requires investors that are aware of the fact that investment in this area requires long term commitment. Hence, they expect returns as soon as possible at the peril of their poorly remunerated staff. The hospitality industry in Nigeria is variegated depending on the location. Some of the outfits found in big cities boast of ‘reasonably’ high quality of service while those in the outskirts offer a lower standard. It is therefore not surprising that since the industry has become an ‘all comers affair’, there is in reality, no true classification of restaurants and hotels as obtainable in other countries. Consequently, most hotels have taken a bold step of prescribing their own grading leading to confusion amongst their clientele. The Nigerian Hospitality Industry is faced with a myriad of challenges ranging from poor energy supply and insecurity to misconstrued internal perception, cynical global perspicacity, flawed hotel classification, poor customer service, little or no standardization in operations, inconsistent regulatory environment and skilled labour shortages caused by a few entrepreneurs with little knowledge of the workings of the industry who hijack the process to perpetuate plans for their own personal aggrandizement. Indeed, the industry operates in a country whose growth rate is estimated at about 7.4% per annum. The challenges cascades from the ineffective top echelon in government down to the least of employees in the industry. Arguably, the industry has not recorded much progress in terms of achievements from its past precedence. Notwithstanding, more than ever before, it has become more lucrative depending on which side of the divide you find yourself i.e. employer or employee. The world over, the hospitality industry has provided high yield in returns on investments. Whether or not this has trickled down to the employees is a story for another day. Not long ago staff of about three ‘self-acclaimed’ international hotels embarked on a strike in Lagos State which disrupted the operations of the hotels. According to them, this was owing to the poor working environment and employee packages of these organisations, although their employers were not in agreement with these claims. The Nigerian market has seen an influx of international brands. However, this is still not reflected in the quality of services rendered. They seem to have fallen into the abyss of ideological quagmire by forgetting to recognise the fact that the industry thrives on service. Take away the services from the hospitality industry then there is nothing to build on. Even in Japan, where plans are ongoing to replace humans with robots. Practitioners have asked if robots will be as intelligent as humans. Others have tagged it as klutzy according to the Guardian UK particularly because humans still outperform robots in terms of dexterity on the job and balance. Although the hotels in Nigeria offer different services to all classes of customers yet they suffer from a culture that is alien to supporting good customer service. Chukwudi Njoku (2015). The Nigerian market has seen an influx of international brands. However, this is still not reflected in the quality of services rendered. They seem to have fallen into the abyss of ideological quagmire by forgetting to recognise the fact that the industry thrives on service. Take away the services from the hotel business then there is nothing to build on. Even in Japan, where plans are ongoing to replace humans with robots. Practitioners have asked if robots will be as intelligent as humans. Others have tagged it as klutzy according to the Guardian UK particularly because humans still outperform robots in terms of dexterity on the job and balance. Although the hotels in Nigeria offer different services to all classes of customers yet they suffer from a culture that is alien to supporting good customer service. Indeed, it is a difficult time to be a stakeholder in the industry but in all, there is always light at the end of the tunnel
- STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The Nigerian Hospitality Industry is faced with a myriad of challenges ranging from poor energy supply and insecurity to misconstrued internal perception, cynical global perspicacity, flawed hotel classification, poor customer service, little or no standardization in operations, inconsistent regulatory environment and skilled labour shortages caused by a few entrepreneurs with little knowledge of the workings of the industry who hijack the process to perpetuate plans for their own personal aggrandizement (Hornby, 1995).
Indeed, the industry operates in a country whose growth rate is estimated at about 7.4% per annum. The challenges cascades from the ineffective top echelon in government down to the least of employees in the industry. Arguably, the industry has not recorded much progress in terms of achievements from its past precedence (Hornby, 1995). Notwithstanding, more than ever before, it has become more lucrative depending on which side of the divide you find yourself i.e. employer or employee. It is against this backdrop that this study becomes pertinent.
- OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The study has one main objective which is sub-divided into general and specific objective; the general objective is to examine the challenges confronting the development of the hospitality industry in Nigeria. The specific objectives are:
- To examine the challenges confronting the development of hospitality industry
- To ascertain the effect of infrastructural development on the growth of hospitality sector
- To ascertain if there is a significant relationship between management efficiency and the development of hospitality sector
- To proffer suggested solution to the identified problem.
