Hoteliers in Huye District have been urged to ensure good service delivery as part of the effort to improve the performance of the tourism sector in the area.

The call was made during a meeting that brought together representatives of hotels, and lodges operating in the district; convened to discuss service delivery and security in hotels.

Huye District mayor Eugene Kayiranga Muzuka said the meeting was part of preparations ahead of the African Nations Championship (CHAN).

"There are about seven months to CHAN. We want hotel owners to offer CHAN visitors improved service.

‘‘When customers get good quality services, they come back and refer others to such a hotel.

But when they get poor services, they do not come back and the hotel gets a bad reputation and losses as a result,” he said.

He advised hotel workers to take study tours to learn best practices in order to improve.

Noting that some hotel waiters and waitresses lacked the required skills to do their work, the mayor promised to request the Workforce Development Authority(WDA) to help in training in skills development.

Theogene Ntampaka, the representative of hotel owners’ association in Huye said: "Our hotel services have not yet reached the level we want. There is a challenge of inadequate skills.”

He, however, expressed optimism that the skills challenge would soon be solved, thanks to the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC) South and WDA.

"There are hotels being built and others which are already operating. There is a need to build the capacity and skills of hotel personnel and increase the needed facilities so that by January the participants during CHAN will be well cared for,” he said.

Mayor Muzuka urged hotels to be security cautious.

Huye Stadium is one of the four stadiums which will host the African Nations Championship (CHAN) slated for January 16 to February 7, 2016.

Others are Amahoro Stadium, Kigali Regional Stadium, and Umuganda Stadium in Rubavu District.

So far, Huye has capacity to effectively accommodate only 1,000 people.

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