By: Mohamed Jalloh
The Sierra Leone Hospitality and Tourism Association have on Wednesday 15th June 2022 held its national election at the Lagoonda resort in Freetown.
In an exclusive interview with the newly elected president for the association, John Shallop said he was very excited for being elected as President of the Sierra Leone Hospitality and Tourism Association.
Giving an overview of forming the Association Mr. Shallop explained that over the years, there was an association called the Hotel and Tourism Association but noted that the association only regulates the Hotels in Sierra Leone.
He continued that as interim president there was a lot of discussion with regards forming another umbrella association that will embrace the entire Tourism sector in the country, whiles noting that Sierra Leone can boast of different businesses in the Tourism sector such as beach bars resorts and hotels.
“This is the main reason why we decided to form the Sierra Leone Hospitality and Tourism Association which is the umbrella body that will cover and regulate all the other sectors in the industry and further expressed hope to collaborating with any other big sector that is ready to join them”, he underscored.
The president confirmed that the Sierra Leone Hospitality and Tourism Association is now well diversified and well represented.
According to the president, as it stands the Tourism sector has widely expanded, which is why every business entity wants to stand on their own.
Having served as interim president, the president elect stated that his position was regularized because stakeholders in the sector repose tremendous trust and confidence in his leadership.
He continued that before forming the association they held consultative meetings and agreed to establish a secretariat, develop a constitution that is binding on all tourism stakeholders that cuts across the country.
“I have made the association to gain a lot of recognition to the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs which has lent massive support to the association. The support has led to the improvement of private sector led tourism”, he explained.
Mr Shallop disclosed that they took on the issue with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the executive chairman on the exorbitant cost of hotel fees which was priced at 10 to 15000 dollars, but noted that through their engagement the price for EPA licenses and environmental has been drastically reduced to 2000 dollars.
The President revealed that he had being working immensely with the Freetown City Council (FCC) and other institutions to sanitize the sector.
He also expressed determination to sell the tourism potential of Sierra Leone across the Sub-region in West Africa and furthered that that he has travelled to Spain to represent the private sector during an exhibition programme.
In giving out the plans for the sector, Mr. Shallop said that the Association had excellent and committed board members with very high qualifications and they will try to see how they can try to develop some project that will help the industry in diverse ways.
According to Mr. Shallop his main focus as president of the Sierra Leone Hospitality and Tourism sector is to boost capacity building services in the sector.
He expressed a solid resolve to woo the airline industry across the world to divert their operations to Sierra Leone and to activate tour operators.
Mr Shallop went further in urging the government to make the visa on arrival competitive similar to what obtains in neighboring countries.
The president said he is very passionate about what he is doing and concluded that he loves Sierra Leone and wants to see Sierra Leone get to the peak of the hospitality sector across West Africa.
