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The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Sarpong, has urged hotel operators to uphold international best practices on health safety and hygiene. This, he said, was necessary amid the spread of cholera and the deadly haemorrhagic viral Ebola fever outbreak in four West African countries. They should, therefore, do everything to protect the lives and health of not only their customers but their workers. Mr Sarpong was speaking at the opening of a two-day meeting of the National Executive Council of the Ghana Hotels Association at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality. The meeting provided the platform for the launch of a service standard book - a tool kit for improved services. The 38-page book is titled �Operational and Service Standards for Tourists and Accommodation Enterprises in Ghana�. Mr Sarpong noted that the hotel industry was critical to the accelerated development of the country and said it was for this reason that the government through the Tourism and Creative Arts Ministry, had embarked on various policies to provide the enabling environment for them to thrive. He encouraged the managers to upgrade themselves and their services to remain competitive. Mr Sarpong asked them to make deliberate efforts to court customer loyalty and said the lack of or little regard for �customer loyalty programmes, which aim at motivating customers purchasing direction� must change. Mr Sampson Donkor, Deputy Executive Director of Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), said the launch of the service standard book would significantly help to introduce high level of professionalism into the industry. He called for collaboration among stakeholders to raise standards and promote self-regulations. Mr Herbert Acquaye, the National President, reminded all operators in the hospitality industry to make sure their operations were sanctioned by the GTA. This, he said, was mandatory under the Tourism Act, adding that, there was also the need to put premium on staff training and certification. The Association has over 1,000 members � from budget to five-star hotel operators.