The Confederation of African Football, CAF, has called on Cameroonian hotels to improve and promote bilingualism as one of their services ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

This recommendation is contained in a 21-page document evaluating Cameroon’s preparations to host the competition as well as outlining recommendations going forward.

The report was produced and transmitted to the local organisaing committee of the 2019 Afcon after a team of experts from the Confederation of African Football, CAF and the Roland Berger firm paid an inspection visit to Cameroon between the 11-21 January.

The team visited stadiums that will host the games, had a look on infrastructure like hotels as well as accommodation facilities like hotels.

In over half a dozen hotels visited in Yaounde and Douala only, the experts had a recurring recommendation to make on their report-Bilingualism.

They proposed to the local organising committee to ensured workers in these hotels are recycled to meet up with international standards which requires them to be bilingual so as to serve with ease visitors that will be coming into Cameroon from all parts of the continent.

The Confederation of African Football also tasked Cameroon to scrupulously respect the deadlines for the execution of the various infrastructure set to play host to the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Yaounde-Olembe and Douala-Olembe stadiums still under construction drew Caf’s attention as the body urged Cameroon to respect contractual deadlines for the execution of each task with corrective tasks and readjustments if necessary.

This must be done with through a « Permanent evaluation (biweekly and / or monthly) of the various tasks to be carried out ,» CAF said.

Caf also called Cameroon’s attention for the need to deployed sustained efforts to construct football pitches that are fit for the purpose and sustainable.

The Confederation of African Football however praised encouraged Cameroon to preserve the achievements and projects already carried out in hotel services, among others. This was one of the mains aspects in which CAF was well pleased with Cameroon.

It doesn’t look completely bleak as it has been painted in the past as Caf rather had more words of encouragement and few recommendations in the various sectors which they visited while in Cameroon.

Cameroon’s airports also had a few positive points to write home, even the experts decided to reserve their comments for the moment. No special recommendations or instructions were issued in this domain except for the installation of a visible intelligence station before the start of the competition and the development of VIP corridors for supporters streaming in from the various countries.

However, the Bafoussam airport must undergo major renovation work, including: construction and paving of access roads, servicing and furnishing the vaccination and waiting rooms, building a fence around to improve safety, improve on the lighting conditions, renewing sanitary facilities and repainting  the walls.