The Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has reiterated its call on owners of businesses in the hospitality and tourism sectors to register their establishments with the State Government as provided for under Section 4 of the Lagos State Hotel and Tourism Establishments Licensing Law of 2003.

The Honourable Commissioner in charge of the Ministry, Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, made the call in Ikeja following the unimpressive response to previous pleas to owners of Hospitality and Tourism facilities operating in the State by the government.

Akinbile-Yusuf listed the affected facilities to include Hotels, Rest Houses, Restaurants, Lounges, Tourism Promoters, Leisure and Recreation Centres, Boat Operators, Health Clubs & Fitness Centres, Motels, Suites and Fast Foods outlets.

Others, according to her, are Travel Agencies, Amusement Parks, Night Clubs, Guest Houses, Service Apartments, Bars, Tour Operators, Entertainment Facilities & Halls, Adult Night Clubs and Beach Resorts.

She disclosed that the process of providing palliatives for practitioners in the tourism and hospitality industry is presently ongoing, adding that the Ministry can only extend the gesture to registered facilities.

“The position of the Ministry is that the registration of Hospitality and Tourism facilities is backed by law, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture is also using the opportunity of the registration to create a data bank for all facilities for ease of reference and as a way of identifying those that are performing their civic responsibilities”, the Commissioner stated.

Akinbile-Yusuf explained that the data bank being developed by the Ministry will be useful in identifying genuine practitioners in the industry that qualify to benefit from the State Government’s palliatives for the practitioners.

While noting that the registration is free, AkinbiIe-Yusuf implored interested persons to use the current window of opportunity made available by the Ministry to contact Hotel Licensing Directorate, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Block 10, The Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja to register.