Our Hotels Must Display Our Culture

One of the most strategic pillars on which every tourist destination thrives is adequate proper accommodation. Providing the right kind of accommodation as required by both international and domestic tourists must never be taken for jokes. In tourism, just providing accommodation is never the right answer to the need for accommodation. Architectural designs, location and décor are prominent when it comes to the acceptance of hotels and guesthouses by tourists.

Americans and Europeans for example escape what they call the “concrete jungle” (extremely built environment) in the quest to enjoy a difference only to land into the middle of another emerging concrete jungle in most third world countries. We probably do not define our target market, determine what they need before we jump to construct our hotels. As for us Ghanaians, as a diplomat once commented, ‘if it not concrete, then it is obviously not a house’.

Many International hotels are springing up and about to add to the semi concrete jungle situation we are busily converting our world into and we have no qualms about that, since Hilton and Holiday Inn, Marriott and the like, are western in origin, but Ghana Tourism Journal still believes that they should adopt some Ghanaian ness into their décor, Hilton Accra must be unique as compared to Hilton everywhere. Paloma restaurant, Labadi Beach Hotel, and Anomabo Beach Resort are quiet Ghanaian and Ghana Tourism Journal is happy with that.

It always beat one’s imagination that almost every hotel facility located in Ghana has western design concepts, ambience and culture. So we asked one hotelier as to whether she thinks Americans for example wish to come here and experience the same kinds of concrete jungle they are running away from? Of course there was no answer. So tourists looking for real change will not consider a return trip because the experience was not completely different at all.

If we rethink what really our tourism industry needs, we will soon find out that most of the things we perceive to be attractive to tourists are only attractive to the hoteliers themselves and may be, fellow Ghanaians and probably just a few West Africans.

Ghana Tourism Journal is asking hoteliers to rethink copying western styles of serving and entertaining tourists when what westerners really want to experience is what have been evolved culturally by ourselves, that is what they call the “difference”. Our people are smiling and lovely, yes that is true, we are very cultural, yes partially true, but what is cultural about the décor of our offices and hotel rooms?

OnewondersWhether any would be, hoteliers in Ghana ever try to find out what visitors want to see in their hotel rooms before the designs are drawn. It is true that South African hotels especially those outside of the cities are designed to depict the culture of the people who own the communities where the hotel facilities are located.

Nothing is preventing us from doing similarly. Not even religious doctrines can bar us from making ourselves proud of our culture. A chat with a South African award-winning hotelier revealed that her architect was a Ghanaian and so her décor is completely Ghanaian and that was what has been doing the trick, no wonder she won the best small hotel award in South Africa.

Lets take time to discover the beauty in us and show them to the world, of course the world would pay to enjoy them.

Our hotels should be authentic Ghana. Our traditional artifacts, cloths, paintings etc should be there to be seen. We live in tropical environment, so too many synthetic flowers are completely unacceptable. Imagine checking into a hotel room where the chairs are made of cane, African made cushion covers of batik or tie and dye, and paintings on the walls. The uniqueness would be felt straight away. That is what we mean when we say buy and use made in Ghana products.

We are a beautiful people so let us show our beauty to the world.

Debrah Richard Kwame (Tourism Analyst)

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.