Category: Travels on Saturday

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Olugbenga Ashiru, has been commended for his recent directive asking Nigerian missions abroad to ensure that the issuance of visas does not last more than 48 hours.

At the forefront of the commendation is the Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, NTDC, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, who said in a statement in Abuja that the directive was most timely as it conformed with the president’s transformation agenda on tourism.

According to Otunba Runsewe, prompt issuance of visas to tourists and investors alike was overdue in view of the desire of tourists to visit Nigeria as their preferred destination and in conformity with the President Goodluck Jonathan on transformation of tourism as a major revenue earner for the country.

He said the usual delays being experienced in some of our missions abroad would now become a thing of the past as consular service delay had always been the usual complaints of some visitors wishing to come to Nigeria.

“This directive will surely help increase the tourist traffic into Nigeria as complaints have always been in this regards,” Otunba Runsewe said.

The minister had said during the signing of “performance” contract with heads of Nigerian missions in the United States at the Nigerian House in New York that the era of visa delay to visitors and investors, among others, to Nigeria was over.

According to the minister, “heads of missions are to hold their individual officers accountable for the delivery of agreed outcome such as the number and timeliness of visas and passports issued, the periodicity and quality of reports that are rendered among other deliverables”.

In a related development, the NTDC boss has also commended the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom for promptly issuing a travel document to a staff of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation whose passport was lost while entering the United Kingdom recently.

 

Otunba Runsewe said the speed with which the Corporation’s request was granted and the prompt attention given to the victim was commendable.

 

 

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The Soweto Gospel Choir, a Grammy Award winner, will be top on the bill for this year’s CARNIRIV. They will be performing at the Civic Centre, Port Harcourt December 9. This is part of the activities for this year’s festival.

The organisers, in a release, stated that this is part of the efforts of the Chibuike Amaechi-led government to promote River State as a destination.

The Rivers State Tourism Development  Agency (RSTDA) has even promised that this year’s edition will be the best so far organized and that  it has made ready everything that is necessary for the hosting of the biggest carnival ever known.

According to Dr. Sam Dede, RSTDA director-general, this year’s carnival is a commemorative edition, and it has been

titled CARNIRIV 2012 Port Harcourt 100 Edition in celebration of the centenary anniversary of the existence of Port Harcourt.

He said the carnival will be celebrated with its unique blends of culture, music and entertainment as well as the participation of international stars, thereby underlining the distinctiveness and multifaceted character of CARNIRIV as a global carnival brand compared to any similar carnival held elsewhere. He also promised that local and international tourists that will attend the carnival will savour the full bouquet of A-list events already packaged  to make CARNIRIV 2012 an unforgettable experience.

To this end, he revealed that Grammy Award-winning reggae star and rapper, Shaggy; compatriot and fellow reggae singer, Patra ,popularly called the Queen of the Pack; and gospel music  sensation, Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa, are some of the international music acts and groups that will light up the state at this year’s edition of CARNIRIV. The carnival holds from December 8 to 15 in Port Harcourt, the capital city. The director-general explained that arrangements have been concluded with a number of local and international stars and entertainers that will thrill guests on various  days and across various segments of the carnival including the opening and closing ceremonies on December 10 and 15 respectively.

According to him, one of the high profile events for this year is the Christian interdenominational CARNIRIV Praise

Jam slated for Sunday, December 9 at 7pm at the Civic Centre, Port Harcourt during which Grammy Award winner, the Soweto Gospel Choir, will be in their best element with soul-lifting songs. ‘‘This is an ice-breaker event for CARNIRIV 2012. The best gospel artistes within and outside the country are expected to grace this stage in an evening fused with soulful and uplifting music requisite for inspiring the added spiritual ambience which the Port Harcourt Carnival ordinarily thrives on’’, Dede said.   He revealed further that Shaggy and Patra alongside other top local and international artistes are expected to storm Reggae-360, an event organised for reggae lovers and connoisseurs alike on Thursday, December 13. ‘‘As music is largely incomplete without a tinge of reggae timbering away in its familiar pulse-like rhythm, so is the carnival incomplete without a well-rounded reggae feast’’, he declared.

While informing that Dance of Fireflies (DOFF) is another thrilling event in which renowned musicians and entertainment buffs will be treated to good music, Dede said DOFF forms the theme of the opening ceremony concert. He said the concert will feature a well-choreographed, dance collage compromising indigenous riverine dances and calisthenics for the enactment of a dance Drama titled “The Return of the Mangrove Giant”.

 

 

 

 

Still on the entertainment side, he said it will be another evening of excitement on Wednesday, December 12 as lovers

of African music gather for the Black African Music Festival (BAMFest). This is a celebration of the black African heritage

which stretches beyond the continent of Africa? Expected at BAMFest are select black musicians from the Americas,

Caribbean islands, Europe and Africa. HOSH Jam, a concert which reminiscences the splendour, ease and rustic charm

of night life in the 60s and 70s, is equally billed for December 11.

 

Other top notch glamour events of CARNIRIV 2012 include the Kids Carnival billed for Sunday, December 9 by 2pm.

The intent of the kiddies’ version, according to Dede, is to demonstrate the importance of children in the scheme

of things as well as develop their interest in tourism right from their formative year. Also coming up is the unveiling

of CARNIRIV Monument on Monday, December 10. During this event, CARNIRIV ’88 monument, which has been renovated into a befitting memorabilia, will become the image of CARNIRIV franchise as the oldest Carnival in Nigeria.

On the other hand, the new CARNIRIV monument will be rigged as an antique, towering up in the sky, to

mark the Port Harcourt 100 Edition of the carnival.

 

Part of the major highlights of this year’s carnival is what has been fittingly dubbed, “Ekere: Rhythm of the Tribes”,

a display of the rich cultural essence of the primal artistic fervour and glamour of the patrician heritage of Rivers

people in the 23 local governments. This will be on parade from December 11 to 13.

 

Sam Dede also disclosed that an International Aquatic Fiesta will hold on December 12 while the Heritage Parade and

the Old Port Harcourt Town Groove respectively hold on December 14.  The weeklong CARNIRIV will be rounded off

with the World Peace Concert, whose aim is to disseminate the message of peace via the vocal chords of some of the

finest apostates of music worldwide amidst a rhapsody of spectacular fireworks.

 

 

Annually, the world gathers in custom House, ExCel, London for the  biggest travel and tourism event, the World Travel Market (WTM). It has in attendance more than 180 countries.

Almost 48,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international journalists attend the event in London to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion. The WTM, now in its 33rd year, is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals.

The fair in 2011 generated £1,653 million of travel industry contracts. Countries, airlines, international hospitality chains, IT solution providers in the tourism industry, resorts, top travel agencies, tour operators all come together under one roof to do business.  That is why it is catastrophic for any country interested in its tourism growth to miss this annual event.

For a country like Nigeria seeking to create an identity for itself and build its profile as an emerging destination, the need to put up a very strong presence and also articulate and market its products was imperative.

Slowly over the last few years, due to Nigeria’s strong presence and visibility in WTM and some other key travel fairs, the travel world is now conscious of the country as an emerging destination in Africa and is also taking a look at some of the things that are making Nigeria tick. The African Section of the fair came to a standstill as people trooped  to listen to Nigerian music, watch dancers and have a thirst of the nation’s cuisines. They had it so good that most refused to go and had to when the music stopped.

The high point of this year’s event was the Nigeria Day.

The Nigerian tourism drive  was given a boost by the 2012 Industry Report  of the WTM  which in addition to steady progress the country is making stated that: “The Nigerian film industry dubbed Nollywood has made the country the highlight of the African tourist industry with Africans making use of the increase no-frills airline routes to visit the country made famous in the movies.”

However, it must be added here that one of the strong areas for inbound tourists to Nigeria is religious tourism. The annual convention of the Living Faith Church Worldwide (Winners’ Chapel), the Redeemed Christian Church of God Holy Ghost convention and Pastor T.B. Joshua’s  Synagogue Church of All Nations are all building the market for pilgrimage and religious tourism.

The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) boss, Otunba Segun Runsewe, assessed the impact of Nigeria at the this year WTM: “ Nigeria had its bold and imposing  stand at the African section of the market, showing remarkable improvement in not articulating its presence in the market, but being able to create a platform for states and  private sector operators to showcase what Nigeria has to offer in tourism.

“While the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) co-coordinated the Nigeria ’s participation,  key private sector operators in the tourism industry had the opportunity to market and network with their counterparts from all over the world. It was an encouraging participation by the Nigerian private sector practitioners.

“States like Cross River State , Rivers and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had a strong presence. The umbrella tourism  body for Nigeria, the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), led by its President, Chief Samuel Alabi, led the private sector operators, including the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), National Association of Tour Operators (NATOP), Arik Airline,  Remlord Group, Naija Seven Wonders, Eko Hotel and Suites, Tarzan Balogun Marine Services Limited and many others. “In the 2012 World Travel market, we have seen that more countries are coming to the WTM and with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) also opening their windows and bringing in their members, we have seen that it is an opportunity to bring a very strong inbound tourists traffic to Nigeria . So, we are using the opportunity to showcase the strength of Nigeria basically in terms of our history  which is also part of the history of the African-Americans. We are also looking at our craft, festival, waterfalls, rocks and so on. So for us, it is an opportunity to invite more foreigners to Nigeria to come and see for themselves.

“The most recent thing that happened was the Americans that we invited to Nigeria who were pleasantly surprised.  They were surprised by the number of tourism opportunities and tourist destinations we have in Nigeria . So, we want to use the opportunity of the WTM to reassure every tourist coming to Nigeria of their safety and security. Let me use this opportunity to also explain one very important issue. There is no country in the world that has total security. We would have some challenges. What is more important is how to overcome them. That is what we are working on. So, the World Travel Market is a total opportunity for us to showcase our strength as a people and invite more inbound tourists to Nigeria, considering the fact that two major factors are not a problem in Nigeria, in fact three, one language, two accommodation, all the major hotels in the world now have facilities in Nigeria, all the major airlines in the world fly to Nigeria. So, the language, accommodation and transportation are not problems. We have also created an advantage to make Nigeria a preferred destination.”

The NTDC boss explained that every country in the world has its challenges, especially in the area of security, but the most important thing is the efforts the country is making to combat it and also ensuring the safety of tourists that visit the country.

Commenting on the WTM Global Trends report, Runswe said: “The report we are getting from the WTM is the sixth in the world in the recent past. That means Nigeria is making major impact in terms of tourism development. I want to be very grateful to the organizers for bringing out the real fact that Nigeria has made concerted efforts and still making until tourism becomes a major income earner for the country.”

 

New alliance aims to strengthen global tourism interest in South Africa and its many wonders

Visa and South African Tourism (SA Tourism) have signed an agreement that will see the two organisations working closely together to promote the country’s tourist attractions to an international audience.

The ‘South Africa and Visa Welcomes You’ campaign will look to amplify SA Tourism’s existing efforts to promote South Africa as a travel destination for tourists – and promote the use of Visa cards by visitors.

Mandy Lamb, Country Manager for Visa in South Africa, said the agreement was a “natural progression” in the company’s existing role in the global tourism industry.

“South Africa remains a firm favourite among tourists from various parts of the world because of the country’s diverse tourist attractions. As a major contributor to South Africa’s GPD, the tourism sector is key to unlocking economic growth and our aim is to put efforts behind articulating South Africa’s advanced electronic payment network, which supports payments by Visa cards,” Lamb said.

 

Annually, the world gathers in Custom House, ExCel, London for the  biggest travel and tourism event, the World Travel Market (WTM). It has in attendance more than 180 countries.

Almost 48,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international journalists attend the event in London to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion. The WTM, now in its 33rd year, is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals.

 The fair in 2011 generated £1,653 million of travel industry contracts. Countries, airlines, international hospitality chains, IT solution providers in the tourism industry, resorts, top travel agencies, tour operators all come together under one roof to do business.  That is why it is catastrophic for any country interested in its tourism growth to miss this annual event.

For a country like Nigeria seeking to create an identity for itself and build its profile as an emerging destination, the need to put up a very strong presence and also articulate and market its products was imperative.

Slowly over the last few years, due to Nigeria’s strong presence and visibility in WTM and some other key travel fairs, the travel world is now conscious of the country as an emerging destination in Africa and is also taking a look at some of the things that are making Nigeria tick. The African Section of the fair came to a standstill as people trooped  to listen to Nigerian music, watch dancers and have a thirst of the nation’s cuisines. They had it so good that most refused to go and had to when the music stopped.

The high point of this year’s event was the Nigeria Day.

The Nigerian tourism drive  was given a boost by the 2012 Industry Report  of the WTM  which in addition to steady progress the country is making stated that: “The Nigerian film industry dubbed Nollywood has made the country the highlight of the African tourist industry with Africans making use of the increase no-frills airline routes to visit the country made famous in the movies.”

However, it must be added here that one of the strong areas for inbound tourists to Nigeria is religious tourism. The annual convention of the Living Faith Church Worldwide (Winners’ Chapel), the Redeemed Christian Church of God Holy Ghost convention and Pastor T.B. Joshua’s  Synagogue Church of All Nations are all building the market for pilgrimage and religious tourism.

The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) boss, Otunba Segun Runsewe, assessed the impact of Nigeria at the this year WTM: “ Nigeria had its bold and imposing  stand at the African section of the market, showing remarkable improvement in not articulating its presence in the market, but being able to create a platform for states and  private sector operators to showcase what Nigeria has to offer in tourism.

“While the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) co-coordinated the Nigeria ’s participation,  key private sector operators in the tourism industry had the opportunity to market and network with their counterparts from all over the world. It was an encouraging participation by the Nigerian private sector practitioners.

“States like Cross River State , Rivers and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had a strong presence. The umbrella tourism  body for Nigeria, the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), led by its President, Chief Samuel Alabi, led the private sector operators, including the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), National Association of Tour Operators (NATOP), Arik Airline,  Remlord Group, Naija Seven Wonders, Eko Hotel and Suites, Tarzan Balogun Marine Services Limited and many others. “In the 2012 World Travel market, we have seen that more countries are coming to the WTM and with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) also opening their windows and bringing in their members, we have seen that it is an opportunity to bring a very strong inbound tourists traffic to Nigeria . So, we are using the opportunity to showcase the strength of Nigeria basically in terms of our history  which is also part of the history of the African-Americans. We are also looking at our craft, festival, waterfalls, rocks and so on. So for us, it is an opportunity to invite more foreigners to Nigeria to come and see for themselves.

“The most recent thing that happened was the Americans that we invited to Nigeria who were pleasantly surprised.  They were surprised by the number of tourism opportunities and tourist destinations we have in Nigeria . So, we want to use the opportunity of the WTM to reassure every tourist coming to Nigeria of their safety and security. Let me use this opportunity to also explain one very important issue. There is no country in the world that has total security. We would have some challenges. What is more important is how to overcome them. That is what we are working on. So, the World Travel Market is a total opportunity for us to showcase our strength as a people and invite more inbound tourists to Nigeria, considering the fact that two major factors are not a problem in Nigeria, in fact three, one language, two accommodation, all the major hotels in the world now have facilities in Nigeria, all the major airlines in the world fly to Nigeria. So, the language, accommodation and transportation are not problems. We have also created an advantage to make Nigeria a preferred destination.”

The NTDC boss explained that every country in the world has its challenges, especially in the area of security, but the most important thing is the efforts the country is making to combat it and also ensuring the safety of tourists that visit the country.

Commenting on the WTM Global Trends report, Runswe said: “The report we are getting from the WTM is the sixth in the world in the recent past. That means Nigeria is making major impact in terms of tourism development. I want to be very grateful to the organizers for bringing out the real fact that Nigeria has made concerted efforts and still making until tourism becomes a major income earner for the country.”