TOURISM, all over the world, is regarded as a key economic activity to generate income for a country. It is a source of employment and in most cases, proceeds from tourism goes directly to the host community where the tourism activity takes place.
That is why tourism is seen as a veritable tool for poverty alleviation and creation of wealth. The huge labour needs of different sub-sectors of the tourism industry, most especially the hospitality industry, has made the industry a key source for job creation. The least number of staff a hotel with10 rooms will employ is 10.
The World Travel and Tourism Council, the world’s leading private sector tourism organization, in its report on 2015 that covers 184 countries and 25 regions of the world said travel and tourism generated US$7.6 trillion (10 per cent of global GDP) and 277 million jobs (1 in 11 jobs) for the global economy in 2014.
Recent years have seen travel and tourism growing at a faster rate than both the wider economy and other significant sectors such as automotive, financial services and health care.
According the report, 2014 was no exception. International tourist arrivals also surged, reaching nearly 1.14billion and visitor spending more than matched that growth. Visitors from emerging economies now represent a 46 per cent share of these international arrivals (up from 38 per cent in 2000), proving the growth and increased opportunities for travel from those in these new markets.
However, this growth in global tourism is not reflected in fortune of tourism in Nigeria. Today, tourism sector has been subsumed under the Ministry of Information and Culture. One way forward for tourism in Nigeria in 2016, according to the former president of the Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (ATPN) and proprietor of Brooklyn Group of Hotels, Alabo Mike Amachree was for the President Buhari-led government to take a second look at the decision and reverse it. This, he said, was in the light of the importance of tourism in any economy, more especially at this period that the price of oil has fallen and the country is exploring other sources of income.
He said: “I am not really bothered about pushing the Ministry to Information, but what I am saying is that tourism was not mentioned. They just pushed culture to merge with information and tourism is now under culture. Mind you, if you build an industry and you are producing products. If those products are not marketed, the industry will close down because they have to be marketed for people to patronize them.
“ If you say you only recognize culture, mind you, culture does not exist on its own. It can only be for entertainment. Cultural products can only be for entertainment. They are not capable of generating income without going through tourism.
“So, tourism is about the biggest provider of jobs in the country. Let me tell you, all the airlines, human transportation and movement of all kinds are under tourism. You can see the number of people those agents are employing, and in talking about foreign exchange earning, what else, maybe apart from petroleum, that can get foreign exchange more than tourism.
“ If we plan our tourism very well, people will be coming to Nigeria because of certain centres. Let us develop tourist sites, museums and other things that will attract the world to Nigeria, this is the work of tourism.”
On the impression that Tourism Ministry may not have done well in the last couple of years, he said: “That is not true. They don’t keep records of tourism. They don’t have records. Most government agencies don’t have records. We had government agency’s stand at the port in Lagos, Port Hacourt, Abuja and so on, but they were all removed. They no longer function.
“Government cannot push tourism to the background; let them find out why the ministry was unable to do those things. The departments under tourism should do their work that is what they are supposed to do. Why is it that other countries that have many products to showcase still sell their tourism?
“Gambia sells more tourism than a lot of other African countries. Tourism is their main generator of income. If those you put in charge cannot do it, consult the practitioners, they will tell you what to do. You can’t just go and employ people. That is how it is. We know those who are good and can do the work.
“In those days, when I was young, during FESTAC 77, we saw a lot of inflow of tourism into Nigeria and with money, pay hotel bills and buy food from the market, not that government will be feeding them. They should bring their money to the country to spend. We stopped that.”
Amachree talked about how practitioners had clamoured for the ministry before it was created. He said: “When I came into tourism, tourism was buried under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. It was not mentioned, rather it was buried there. It was when General Abacha invited us to join vision 2010 that we deliberated on it. Among us were the late Chief Segun Olusola, Captain Okon, former Managing Director of ADC Airlines and myself. We were senior members of the committee.
“We deliberated that tourism should not be buried; let it come to the limelight, let it be brought out from the Ministry of Trade and Industry. We met Chief Shonekan. He was the chairman of the Vision 2010 committee. We told him that this was what we wanted; he said we should go and debate it, we did and we won. That was the beginning in bringing out the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
“ Cultural products on their own cannot be marketed or generate employment. So, we call it the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Since then, things were going on well. Now tourism has been on the forefront, but in the current cabinet of President Buhari, tourism is no longer mentioned. They rather picked culture to add to Ministry of Information.
“ Tourism is not supposed to be under culture and information because tourism is the generator of revenue and employment in this country. Which other sector can generate employment and revenue like tourism. Tourism is the movement of people from one point to the other, and any money you make from the movement of people is tourism earnings. So, people move to all parts of the world and within Nigeria.
“ If you make money from the movement of people, you have created wealth and job. So, I am using this opportunity to call on the Federal Government to still bring out tourism and culture as one ministry. You cannot say it is under information. It is not supposed to be so.”
The Chariman, Board of Trustees of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), Chief Samuel Alabi, had this to say on the industry: “Going by the Supreme Court’s judgment, state tourism commissioners and the Minsiter of Information and Culture should have a working arrangement on how to move the industry forward.
“As it is now, some government agencies have not yet realized the new order of the day. The Nigerian Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) is still basking in the euphoria of the old order of things. Tourism is a state affair.”
On the expectation of the private sector for the year, Alabi said: “A stable economy is sine qua non for the development of of the private sector. A few months ago, a dollar was exchanged for 200 plus, and now it is exchanged for 300.It does not help the private sector because it is going to harm planning. There is also the problem of unstable economic indices. Thirdly, tourism stakeholders are fond of talking in general terms, saying government should develop tourism without being specific.
“ There is need to develop tourism destinations. Our surest bet is to develop the wildlife and game reserves. Nigerians and foreigners will patronize these places, if developed because that is nature which may not be available in many other places in the world. South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and some other countries are making millions from safari. Nigerian government would earn foreign exchange, if our game reserves are developed and maintained.”
Efforts in the past to fashion out a direction for Nigerian tourism industry have not been successful. A tourism master-plan was drafted for the country but was never implemented before it was discarded. Practitioners are hoping that there will be a clearer direction in the government push to develop the tourism sector this year.
