As part of its efforts to cleanse the hospitality industry of illegal and substandard facilities, the Ghana Tourism Authority has collaborated with the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service to shut down KTV 86 Chinese Restaurant and Bar in Accra.
The facility which is located in Labone was closed down on Monday 10th June 2019 for operating illegally and under poor sanitary conditions.
The police say they have received a tip-off about the facility being used as a brothel for Chinese nationals and are currently investigating the matter.
In an interview with Citi Business News, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at the GTA, Jones Nelson explained the situation further.
“We had information from the Regional Police Command that this restaurant at Labone that is KTV Chinese Restaurant is operating an undercover brothel and per the laws of Ghana, such an operation is illegal.
So the police brought in an official letter to us that they have arrested people here and have carried out investigations but they thought it wise that since they are the regulators of tourism enterprises we should be informed.
We quickly moved in here and we have closed them down. And this is in connection with the nationwide exercise we started last week”.
The Ghana Tourism Authority on the 3rd of June this year commenced a nation-wide enforcement exercise to clamp down on tourism enterprises operating without license from the Authority.
The Tourism authority says it has since completed its exercise in Accra will continue the exercise in Tema.
Following the commencement of the exercise, however, the GTA has received criticism from some tourist facility operators who claim that their exercise is rather a setback to the industry.
Nevertheless, Mr. Nelson appealed to operators to comply with all the laws governing the tourism industry.
“People should not sit down for us to come and close them down and then complain that we are spoiling tourism business and all that they should be willing to work in collaboration with us”.
Source: Citifm
