At the Star Building on Tuesday, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute received representatives of hotel and transport unions, two sectors among the most affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. For Joseph Dion Ngute, it was in a bid to find, with the concerned parties, the appropriate measures to cushion the impact of the pandemic on their activities.
The disgruntled workers have expressed certain complaints, amongst them that government grants them a third place in the back seat of taxis (removed as part of the social distancing measures) and the distribution of protective masks as spelt out by Prosper Essomba, President of the National Syndicate of Urban, Semi-urban and Rural Transport Drivers of Cameroon (SYNCTRAPUIRCAM).
Also affected, the hotel sector seems more in agony. If the official figures are not available at the moment, it should be noted that close to 800 top notch hotels are affected by the pandemic. Several leading hotel establishments have had to temporarily stop their activities. The most illustrative case is without La Falaise, a four-star hotel which has shut down operations in the economic capital Douala.
Industry players are therefore calling on the government to take action to cushion the impact of the pandemic. “We should be able to be supported on areas of our activity which are related to taxation, which are related to recovery because despite the fact that we are in a serious crisis of this pandemic, we must have the hope of starting again”, Chantal Lewat, President of the Union of Hotel and Tourism Industries said.
The Prime Minister recently announced a government reflection whose objective is to support the sectors of activity most affected by the health crisis. An announcement made two weeks ago, which has yet to be followed by concrete action.
