ARUSHA, Tanzania, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania will inspect all tourist hotels that were privatized, a senior official said on Sunday.
The move is aimed at improving the tourism sector, as quality accommodation services play a big role, Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Constantine Kanyasu said.
"We will revoke ownership licences of all hotels that will be found operating below standard," he said after inspecting Soronera and Lobo tourist hotels, situated in the Serengeti National Park.
"The task will then be shifted to other investors who are ready to manage them for the interest of promoting tourism," he said.
The government decided to conduct such inspections following a number of complaints from stakeholders over poor services provided by most tourist hotels in the country, Kanyasu said.
"It is also claimed that there is a tendency of some privatized hotels to evade tax and pay low wages to local employees compared to foreign workers," he said. "This will never be tolerated, and once we find such things, we will revoke ownership licences of the investors."
The hotel inspection provided him an opportunity to observe and evaluate the wearing-out of infrastructure in some of the hotels, Kanyasu said.
There was also incorrect data on the number of tourists who visit those facilities, he said.
Kanyansu directed hotel owners to find ways to raise the number of Tanzanians visiting the country's tourist attractions and thus making use of accommodation in those hotels.
