The Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Dr Memunatu Pratt, last week hosted a meeting of over 100 operators in the hotel, casino and restaurant trades and called on them to pay all their licence fees and other arrears within 14 days or face penalties.

She maintained that the Bio administration will not tolerate business as usual as it stands on transparency and accountability in order to boost national revenue.

A Tourism ministry official opined that Minister Pratt’s decision to recover hundreds of millions of dollars owed by the above businesses in a step in the right direction in sourcing much needed revenue for the ministry’s operations.

He commended the minister for declaring that she will not tolerate any underhand deals. She attributed the ministry’s poor infrastructure, insanitary beaches and poor investment in the tourism sector as affecting its growth.

Whilst noting the lapses in the sector, Madam Pratt said it holds the potential to generate millions of dollars in revenue. Her aide said Madam Pratt has robust plans to boost the sector including upgrading tourist islands, provision of ferry boats to transport tourists, mistreatment of locals by foreign investors and revisiting of the country’s cultural heritage.