DAR ES SALAAM city has in the past eight years added one more Five Star hotel, bringing to three the total number of the hospitality facilities in the country’s commercial capital.
The high status hotel was identified in
the just ended grading and regrading of hotels and restaurants in the
city, according to the Natural Resources and Tourism Minister, Professor
Jumanne Maghembe.
He said the 202 hotels were assessed
during the 2009 exercise, noting that the just ended work was phase one
of the current re-grading programme.
Prof Maghembe (pictured) said in the
second phase, all hotels evaluated in 2009 will be re-graded, taking
into account the time interval of operation that they could have either
improved or deteriorated.
In the previous evaluation, two hotels were honoured with the Five Star status.
This year’s assessment that started last
February has certified Dar es Salaam Serena Hotel as the five star
facility. Two hotels were approved as four star, 13 hotels three star,
31 hotels two star and six hotels one star.
“Hotels play critical role in tourism
industry and this grading helps to improve and provide value for money
services,” Prof Maghembe noted during a ceremony to award star rates to
accommodations and facilities in Dar es Salaam.
Permanent Secretary in the tourism
ministry Major General Gaudence Milanzi said the grading and regrading
was meant t o enhance professionalism, provide clean environment and
hygiene as stipulated in the criteria to assess and grade hotels.
The Chairman of the Tourism
Confederation of Tanzania, Mr Abdulkadir Mohamed, said the re-grading
will also help to have in place different prices/charges for the hotel
services, according to their grades, with customers availed with the
choice options.
The ministry gave a 30-day notice last
January to owners and operators of the accommodation facilities in the
city to make the necessary preparations for a smooth and efficient run
of the grading exercise.
The Ministry’s Director of Tourism, Mr
Zahoro Kimwaga, told the ‘Daily News’ in a telephone interview that the
exercise would involve 15 experts, some of them from the private sector.
“This is to make it more participatory.
These people went through special training to do the job,” Mr Kimwaga
said, arguing that there was no way the team will cheat in the hotel
grading because the exercise was strictly bound to the regional
standards.
Among other regional agreed criteria is
the location of the hotel whereby for the One Star and Two Star hotels,
the location should be suitable for a Town Hotel whereas for Three, Four
and Five Star hotel the location is the same as for One and Two Star
hotel but further offers easy accessibility, safety, comfort and
tranquility.
The rating has been done using the East African Community standardisation and classification system, which was adopted in 2009.
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