Christmas: Patronage of restaurants encouraging — Operators

Some operators and owners of restaurants have expressed satisfaction with the patronage of their facilities by Ghanaians during the Christmas festivities.

They said though the general patronage had been low since Friday, December 23, the number of Ghanaians visiting the restaurants was encouraging.

Madam Margaret Akua Johnson, Assistant Supervisor, Capitol Restaurant, Accra, told the Ghana News Agency the trend was an indication that the locals were embracing domestic tourism.

“Ordinarily, you would expect that the foreigners would troop in more but it is rather the opposite. The local people are coming with their loved ones and this is good for the State,” she said.

Miss Gloria Tesu, Supervisor, Bosphorus Restaurant, told the Agency she was not surprised about the trend because it had been so in the last six months.

“We are hoping to see more people during the rest of the holidays, especially more Ghanaians as we have packages for all celebrants,” she said.

She said the hospitality industry should be the game changer and help drive traffic within the domestic tourism value chain.

Mrs Esther Addobea Lamptey, who had her family supper at Capitol Restaurant, said her family visited the restaurant once every month as part of their diet planning.

“And all the times that we have come here the children love it, it is good to at least expose them to such environment once in a while,” she said.

At the Buka Restaurant, also in Accra, the GNA ‘gate crashed’ into a Christmas party by some foreign nationals, with locals coming in to pick and place orders.