With the fear and panic created by the reported Ebola incident in Nigeria barely a month ago, the nation’s hospitality industry, especially in Lagos, may be losing money, as a small scale cancellation of hotel bookings and airline reservations have been witnessed.
Meanwhile, Nigeria has received a consignment of an experimental Ebola drug from an unnamed Nigerian scientist, Onyebuchi Chukwu, minister of Health, said in Abuja on Thursday.
Chukwu, who gave the cheery news at a news conference, gave the name of the drug as “Nanosilver.
He added, “The only experimental drug we have now is Nanosilver, provided by a Nigerian scientist; details of the drug will be disclosed later to the media”.
It is feared that if the cancellation of hotel and airline bookings continues, it could significantly affect the business projections of operators in the sector.
BusinessDay investigations show that the cancellations affect mostly the international hotel brands whose target guests are foreigners on business trips, diplomats on visits and other expatriates.
The investigation also indicates that the would-be guests are cancelling their trips based on travel and health alerts, advising against trips to West African countries , particularly Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Liberia and because Nigeria has had four Ebola fatalities, following the entry into the country of Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American, who was afflicted by the disease and later died.
In Nigeria, 12 pesons are confirmed infected, while 198 are under surveillance.
According to World Health Organisation August 13 figures, there have been 510 reported Ebola cases in Guinea with 377 fatalities.Liberia has had 670 cases with 355 deaths, while Sierra-Leone has had 783 cases with 334 deaths.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday commended the Nigerian government’s response to the incidence of the Ebola virus in the country so far.
The Country Representative of WHO in Nigeria, Rui Vaz, who made the commendation at a press briefing in Abuja, said the government’s response was a model for other affected countries to copy.
Vaz observed that President Goodluck Jonathan took the first critical step by declaring the disease a national emergency.
“The president has also been pushing in order to ensure that we have the emergency operation centres in each state with a very clear plan and accountability framework.
“This is to ensure that everybody works together under this plan and to provide together, the necessary support”.
Said a hotel manager in Lagos, “Our corporate and individual clients are stable but not enough to sustain good occupancy for us. Many of the cancelations are from would-be guests outside Nigeria who are waiting on the progress on the efforts by the Nigerian government at containing the spread of the virus before rescheduling their hotel bookings and even flight reservations”.
Apart from the cancellations, some of the international branded hotels, according to the manager, fear that some of their expatriate staff may leave the country if the health situation deteriorates.
“Don’t forget that these hotel executives are expatriates as well. They may be under pressure by their families, parent companies or prospective employers, to leave Nigeria for now, for jobs elsewhere.
Mike Ikeocha, sales manager of a Victoria Island, Lagos-based indigenous boutique hotel, explained that occupancy rates had never been an issue for most Nigerian-owned and managed hotels because their clientele base is mostly Nigerian.
“We maintain our normal occupancy rates of between 50-60 percent with patronage from within. Most foreigners think we are not sophisticated enough, the worst is that our own people will not even recommend us to them. So, we are in business as usual”, Ikeocha said.
But while most international hotel brands gear up for imminent booking cancellations, hotels in Abuja are having field day, apart from the menace of Boko Haram bombings in the north.
Hotels such as Transcorp Hilton Abuja, and Abuja Sheraton, still service high profile guests, despite the Ebola virus scare. According to a Transcorp Hilton executive, the Ebola virus, for now, is limited to Lagos and efforts are made at containing it. However, the hotel executive noted that the international brand is proactive and sensitising its staff on safety and health measures.
Hotels in Lagos are sensitising their staff on the virus, preventive measures, best care for guests, and security consciousness. They also provide hand sanitisers at strategic places in the hotel, aprons, hand gloves, temperature gauges to dictate guests with symptoms of the virus, screening machines among others.
Additional to the safety measures is enquiry on guests travel history within a year and the means of transport to Nigeria.
Meanwhile, many offices in Lagos are dispensing hand sanitisers to their employees and visitors which thy make it compulsory to use.
Many Lagosians also told our reporter that they would rather buy drugs from pharmarcies if they felt unwell, rather than visit hospital. This they say is for the fear that they could be exposed in a hospital environment.
OBINNA EMELIKE
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