A tourism night held in Douala to promote tourism, boost hotel services and other aspects of tourism.

In about a month's time, Cameroon will host the Women's African Cup of Nations, with demand for the hospitality industry expected to shoot up. Experts say much still needs to be done if the country must provide quality services and benefit significantly from the continental sports fiesta.

During the 2nd Hotel, Tourism and Environment Night, which held in Bonapriso, Douala, recently, various speakers debriefed stakeholders not only on identified obstacles to service quality, but also whether current strategies are addressing these obstacles. They also proffered measures to address the challenges.

Lack of mentoring, staff attitude, high customer expectations and budget constraints, were highlighted as impediments to improvements in tourism services. Practitioners were encouraged to seek financing from institutions with the goal of retraining staff to offer quality services and woo more customers. Jean Jacques Essame Ndame, initiator of the Hotel, Tourism and Environment Night, cautioned: "We still have a month before the Women's African Cup of Nations tournament begins. We can boost efforts to attain international standards in hotel tourism."

According to officials of the Ministry of Tourism, government assists tourist structures and promotes industries to enhance tourism. Also present during the event were local regional delegates and the representative of the Ambassador of Senegal, who lauded Cameroon's tourism potentials and its diplomatic relations with Senegal.