No Easter fever in Ho
There is no Easter fever whatsoever in Ho this year, with only a few days to the celebration.
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The usual and vigorous buying of foodstuff and other items from the Ho Central Market (Asigame), which often preceded the Easter festivities, is this time missing. The market has been desolate in the past few days when The Mirror visited.
A popular onion seller in the market, Kafui Ego, told The Mirror on Sunday that during Easter celebrations in the past, she received large orders from at least 15 hotels in the Volta Region, and sold the vegetable to at least 20 customers in a day.
“This time, nothing is happening in the market; I received no orders from the hotels, and individual customers are not also coming to buy onions from me,” she lamented. Ms Ego, who usually bought the onions in large quantities from Niger, said her sales were declining rapidly on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, the Queen of the Ho Central Market, Rejoice Norvixoxo, said the business declined rapidly in the countdown to Easter. “Our customers tell us they have no money this time to buy from us,” she told The Mirror.
An empty section of the Stadium Gate Shopping Mall
Apart from the traders in Asigame, big shop owners have also expressed similar sentiments, saying there was nothing noticeable about Easter shopping this year. At the Stadium Gate Shopping Mall, for instance, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Victoria Letsa, said in the past, the mall was full of customers during the Easter period, but there was no such trend this year.
Previously, the mall attended to more than 200 customers daily, for a few days to Easter, but the story was now different with an average of 50 customers shopping at the mall daily.
The story was no different from the hospitality industry, with hotels receiving no room bookings or reservation requests. At the 90-room Sky Plus Hotel, less than 30 per cent of the rooms had been booked as of Sunday, March 24, 2024.
A managerial staff member, who spoke on anonymity, attributed the situation to high competition among hotels in Ho in recent times. “But that will not stop us from our planned live band performances during Easter,” the staff member said.
At the 300-room Volta Serene Hotel, less than 50 per cent of the rooms had been booked for Easter as of last Sunday. “There is no money in the system these days for clients to patronise hotels,” an administrator at the hotel noted for its high patronage said.
Rejoice Norvixoxo, Ho Central Market Queen, sitting in front of her shop
The Africa Hill Hotel, as part of its preparation for Easter, built eight new rooms to add to the 15 they have, however, they had not recorded enough bookings. Drinking spots in the regional capital were virtually empty while the streets were deserted in addition to the low partonage of transport services to the public.
Most businesses said sales were much better in the weeks before Easter, but things suddenly turned for the worse in the past few days. Some public servants, who spoke to The Mirror, said they were not interested in celebrating Easter this year due to the lack of money to shop.
Gift shops in the municipality were closing early due to the lack of customers.
