Father of Nigeria Tourism Chief Mike Amachree has called on rich Nigerians and entrepreneurs to invest and develop tourist sites in rural areas. He said this will serve as an incentive to make Nigerians visit and explore these rural areas. He said it will also help grow the local economy in rural areas.
Amachree made this call in his goodwill message to tourism practitioners to mark the 2020 World Tourism Day with the theme: Tourism and Rural Development.
He congratulated all state governors and tourism practitioners in the country for the auspicious day and also drew attention to the contributions of the tourism the sector in the economic development of the country.
Chief Amachree who is the national president of the Centre for the Promotion of Peace, Tourism, Arts, and Culture (CEPTAC) praised the efforts of five state governments: Rivers, Lagos, Kano, Plateau, and Cross River states that had in the early nineties brought Nigerian tourism into the limelight.
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The doyen of Nigerian tourism advised state governors that tourism establishment and promotion is entirely a private sector affair emphasizing that the the government should not operate tourist sites. He said where the the the government comes in is in the provision of necessary infrastructure, creating the enabling environment and financial support to the private sector to operate.
The CEPTAC president disclosed that his association is planning to tour the country to discuss with prominent traditional rulers whose stools were recognized before Nigerian independence, on how to use a section of their palaces as tourist sites by displaying artworks, relics, and monuments and artifacts of their communities for visiting tourists to view and appreciate as was done in the ’90s when the Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (ATPN) visited the palaces of King Jaja of Opobo, the Oba of Ikeja, the Emir of Kano, Gbong Gwom Jos, Obong of Calabar, and the Ataoja of Osogbo.
He however, lamented that the COVID-19 pandemic will slow down the development of tourism in Nigeria
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