A ranking conducted by STR, an American company that tracks supply and demand data for multiple market sectors, including the global hotel industry, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, declared Ethiopia and Ghana as topping the list of African countries with highest hotel room rates.

Ethiopia's Addis Ababa city ranked first posting the continent's highest Average Daily Rate (ADR).

It said between July 2018 and June 2019, Addis Ababa posted an ADR of $163.79, while Accra Area in Ghana came second posting an ADR of $160.34 and Lagos Area in Nigeria, third with a rate of $132.51.

The ranking said, when it comes to hotel occupancy rates, Egypt's Cairo and Giza were the leaders at 74.5 per cent.

Cape Town Centre in South Africa placed second with 65 per cent ranked second, followed by Accra Area with 59.7 per cent placing third.

Africa is said to have many historical and tourist attraction sites, making it a must visit place globally.

According to experts, what drove many tourists crazy both local and foreign, were accommodation rates in Africa with many hotels charging over $100 for a night in hotels not even up to a two star level.

The rating said it was just expensive for ordinary travelers to secure a place at a hotel during their visits.

It said the current situation frustrated many tourists, local and foreign and affecting the tourism industry. 

Mr Alexander Nketiah, Volta Regional Director, Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) reacting to the study conceded that plethora of taxes, levies and fees as well as high utility bills contributed to escalating hotel room rates in the country and other African jurisdictions, which labelled as 'high cost destination countries' in the hospitality industry.

He said regional average occupancy rates were hovering around 30-50 per cent when the national figure was pegged at between 60-65 per cent.

"A few of the hotels are doing well, but frankly speaking majority of them are reeling under severe hardship," the Regional Director said.

He said business was not booming at the occupancy and accommodation level but indicated that other segments of the sector such as fashion, car rentals, arts as well as historical and tourists attraction sites were generating high numbers and accompanying revenues at the expense of room occupancy.

Mr Nketia said there was therefore huge disconnect between the high visitation numbers that the country was witnessing against room occupancy.

Mr Godwin Morkli, Secretary of the Volta Regional Hotels Association confirmed that utility bills and overabundance and multiplicity of taxes were responsible for the high room rates in the country stating, "as much as twenty different taxes, levies and fees are imposed on the hotel business alone."

He mentioned some of the taxes and levies coming from the Ghana Revenue Authority corporate tax, EPA, GTA levy, Municipal Assembly tax, property tax, Value Added Tax, with others coming from Food and Drugs Authority and the Ghana Standards Authority. 

Mr Morkli called on duty-bearers to synchronise all the taxes into a one-time payment regime to make it easier for them to handle.

"The tax user-fee synchronisation will help us plan ahead, lessen our plight and accord us opportunity to hire quality hands and pay rewarding salaries", he said.

Mr Morkli said the Association members paid between GHC 300.00 and GHC 1,500.00 as salaries from security, cleaners to supervisors, managers, chefs and matrons.