Interview: HOW READY ARE HOTELS IN LIMBE AND ITS ENVIRONS TO HOST THE 2016 WOMEN’S AFCON?

The Women’s African Cup of Nations holding for its first time in Cameroon  this year 2016 is seen to be another peculiar sporting event which will bring together masses from a variety of countries within and out of the continent to  partake or witness the grand sporting  jamboree. It is no doubt that the Cameroon government needs to make provision for logistics and infrastructures that will permit teams and their officials feel the comfort of hotels in Cameroon. Talking about the case of the South west region as one of the regions to be hosting some matches, and a more focus on Limbe where the stadium is, it is no doubt that too much work still needs to be done to expect a successful tournament.

     However, the government of Cameroon has been so far, doing its best to make up though there is need to speed up because as far as preparations are concern the government may regret feeding their fowl on the market day if things are not done a little much faster.

      With the south west region to benefit from the percentage of 8 billion CFA FRS as the grand sum for the amelioration of hotels in Cameroon, six hotels were selected in south west  with the concentration in Limbe and others in Buea. As a matter of fact, the interview with Ernest Yuniwo Njila , who is chief of service for the Tourism enterprises of the south west regional delegation of the ministry of Tourism and Leisure informs us of the level of preparedness of the hotels in Limbe and its environs.

Mr.Njila how will you assess the hotels in Limbe and its environs ability to host the women’s African Cup of Nations?

MR.NJILA: Thank you for the question. I can tell you that as of now we are almost about 70 percent set, the hotels are up to date, as of now we have almost about thirty five hotels in Limbe with a capacity of about 950 rooms. As you know officially at the level of Cameroon we have no problem, but with CAF there are some conditions that are set and most be respected. You know one of the poles will be based here in Limbe so CAF requested that for a hotel to be able to host a national team it most be of the four star category, so paradoxically as of now we don’t have any four star hotel in Limbe and Buea but somany measures have been taken to upgrade some of the hotels to four stars. For instance we have SEME HOTEL in Limber, we have FINI HOTEL in LIMBE, then we also have ATLANTIC BEACH HOTEL in Limbe and work is seriously going on to upgrade them to four star hotels. When you come to Buea we also have CHARIOT HOTEL, we have MOUNTAIN HOTEL those are the main hotels and we also have ETA PALACE HOTEL which might be added to the list of official facilities to lodge official delegations and by official delegations I mean teams. So as of now work is seriously going to finish on time

For any hotel to lodge any delegation, do they need an authorization from the ministry?

Mr. NJILA:Normally to do tourism business or to have a hotel you most be authorized. There are two authorizations as far as hotels are concerned. You first have an authorization to construct a hotel and an authorization to operate a hotel those are the preliminary conditions which must be meet to run a hotel and all those authorizations are granted by the ministry of tourism.Now in this context people are coming in and they don’t necessarily need to pass through us but official delegations with official delegations coming in the state has to be involved because of security, so the hotels can lodge any people coming in as far as the hotel is authorized without any authorization from the state.

What type of rooms are available for these hotels and their respective stars?

Mr NJILA:Like I said almost all the main hotels I listed were of three star category, so CAF insist that a three star hotel cannot lodge and official delegation, so they most be upgraded to four star and you see for example like for four star a room capacity of forty rooms and some facilities like the swimming pool, the gym, the night club, tennis court, restaurant and other amenities that can add comfort to what we have. So according to the requirements of four star hotels we only need to add a few things to the hotels that have been selected because they have a majority of  facilities already with just a few lacking.

What are you doing with hotel owners to ensure that the security of these hotels is assured since foreigners will be coming in and their security will need to be guaranteed?

Mr.NJILA That is a good question. You know its not only when people are coming that we talk about security. As you know our country is at a level where security is the main priority, so it’s not today we start talking about security. When we started we ensured that all these hotels have security and the administration has equally been having meetings with hotel staffs to educate them on security measures like the equipment to check people to ensure they are free from weapons, and we also ensure that they have some security exits and also contacts of security agents like the fire brigade and other compartments of the military like the army and the BIR all these not enough but hotels should have fire extinguishers too and hotels most be accessible . I personally pointed out to them to be in position of the security number of the Police and gendarme in the region two months ago when I was in the field. All these contacts most be in every room so that people can contact in case of any trait.

Is it at the level of the government of our country to assign particular delegations to particular hotels or delegations make choices for their hotels?

Mr.NJILA:This is a big question that may be answered at the higher level, but you discover for instance that if Cameroon was going to Brazil for a match there is often a delegation that is sent there before time to check on a hotel to suit their standard. So in this case there are five teams coming to lodge in south west and their choice of hotel need to be chosen by their delegation and if the hotel they want has been taken the host country will always propose and alternative. All the same the hotels will have the same standards and only distance from the stadium and training pitches may differ.

With all these, it can be admitted that if the “lyrics “of this preparation for Women’s AFCON 2016 are well implemented as they have been sung, Cameroon will be able to do a successful hosting of this edition of Women’s AFCON with just ordinary lapses.
Interview Conducted by Fonban Emmanuel Lemndzemo..