Hotels in Tourism: What Capacity to Accommodate the Cultural and Religious 3 Challenges of the Hilly Territory?

The decentralization process initiated in Benin since 2003, supported by several legislative texts, including Act No. 97-029 of 15 January 1999 on the organization of municipalities in the Republic of Benin, authorizes each territorial community to organize development on the basis of the potential of its territory. The objective of this study is to contribute to a better knowledge of the hotel infrastructure capacity of the hill territory. The methodology used combines both documentary research and field work. This work consisted in carrying out a survey through a preliminary visit and then in-depth surveys of the promoters and managers of accommodation facilities in the said territory and individual interviews with the mayors. Data processing was done using Sphinx, Arc-View and Excel software. The analysis of the results was carried out using the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) model. The results show that in the six municipalities of the hill territory, 730 hotel rooms have been identified and can be classified into three (3) main categories, namely inns (16), motels (11) and hotels (21) with an accommodation capacity of 1460 people at the rate of 02 people per hotel room. In view of the results obtained, it can be concluded that the hilly territory has a significant capacity for accommodation despite the shortage of hotel rooms that occurs during the major cultural and religious events that the territory hosts each year. The federation of efforts to create an Inter municipal environment conducive to the promotion of tourism and hotels will support the identity dynamics of the territory and strengthen the employability of young people, which is a guarantee of sustainable development.