CHALLENGES FACING THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOSPITALTY INDUSTRIES IN RURAL AREAS OF EDO STATE

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
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 (Davis, 2009).
The hospitality industry can be categorized under the service industry and refers to the provision of lodging services, restaurants, event planning, theme parks, transportation, cruise line, and additional fields within the tourism industry (Akogun, 2006). Hospitality industry has provided high yields in returns to investors. The hospitality industry is an important part of development and economic emergence and attractiveness.

Globally it is a multi-billion dollar industry with broad offerings, in Nigeria the best of hospitality development is found in accommodations and restaurants. The hospitality market is booming in Nigeria and with that boom comes new found diversification in range, quality and classifications yet there is much room for growth, diversification and standardization. The industry faces many challenges including instability in power supply, security, negative global publicity and the effects of the general issues facing the growth of tourism in Nigeria (Akogun, 2006).

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 (Davis, 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.

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 (Omozuwa, 2011). 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 standardisation 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.

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 (Omozuwa, 2011). 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 (Swarbrooke, 2005). 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.