When Orville Wright took the first powered airplane on a 12 seconds flight on that misty morning on December 17, 1903, little did he know that the little hop off the slopes of the hill at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, U.S.A. was actually a giant leap that changed the world forever.
Technology emerged 300 years ago transforming travel from the horse drawn stage coach to the steam engine trains and at the same time an evolution replaced sailing ships with steam powered liners. These new contraptions certainly made Christopher Columbus green with envy. Travel however still entailed days in the unknown and had to be propelled by compelling demands. Much of the activity was migratory but trade had become a significant factor which unfortunately included the infamous slave trade. Transportation over the years became an economic denominator.
Then came the invention of the internal combustion engine and the emergence of the automobile. Commuting became an activity both for work, leisure or any other pursuit, but the capacity to move people in great numbers over great distances remained a challenge. With the power from the petrol engine, two self-taught engineers took four years with personal sacrifice, great commitment and surmounting several failures to redefine the way the world will travel. The little hop above the plains of Kitty Hawk became a revolution in transportation that redefined tourism. Aviation was now to evolve into a major driver of global tourism.
Aviation, outside promoting a country and stimulating interest in it, has evolved into a major driver of economic growth. This is evident when airlines operate what is popularly known as ‘spoke and wheel operational strategy’’. Under this strategy, the airlines fly into a consolidation airport which becomes a hub and distributes flights using multiple aircraft to the final destination of the passengers.
These hubs become new centres of growth and evolve into destinations in themselves. This is the model along which Dubai has emerged as a global leader in business by the direct consequence of its aviation policy. With time businesses relocate to the hub and businesses can attain a larger and more cost effective regional catchment.
This model is under development in Addis Ababa and Lome. Senegal has just opened a new international airport and could use the model to transform Dakar into a West African Hub controlling businesses from South America, North America and Europe. With the addition of a strong national carrier to be based in Dakar, the economic multipliers will be legion and Senegal may become the leading Country in ECOWAS. Business tourism drives domestic tourism for the former leads to an expansion of accommodation capacity which creates an economy of scale to have well priced bed-nights.
The combination of thriving business tourism and leisure tourism creates massive employment opportunities which translate to economic stability. These will be appropriate stimuli to drive domestic production. The mobilization of the populace in gainful employment forms the rudiments of sustained economic stability. The nucleus can be traced to a booming aviation sector which within its orbit has a prosperous value chain.
Tourism is one of the biggest industries in the world. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism supports 284 million jobs globally and contributed 9.8% of GDP (USD 7.2 trillion) in 2015. Out of the 62.7 million jobs supported by the global aviation industry, over 36 million of these are aviation enabled jobs connected to tourism industry. In terms of economic activity, over $892 billion, out of the total of 2.7 trillion USD supported by aviation is related to tourism. With 54% of all international tourists travelling to their destinations by air, it is easy to appreciate how vital aviation is to tourism.
Aviation is more pronounced at regional levels. In Africa for instance, 5.8 million of the aviation-enabled jobs of 6.8 million, are related to tourism. For small island states, the figure stands at 1.2 million of the total 1.4 million jobs. The Maldives relies on the aviation – related tourism to support 42% of its economic output, Seychelles 19% and Cape Verde 15%.
Preservation of eco-systems historical and heritage sites and monuments are key facilitator of tourism. These sites have encouraged religious tourism to countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia, France, Spain, Turkey, India etc.
Many tourists are attracted to places of historical significance with a legacy of rich cultural heritage. Tourists must first feel protected and are therefore attracted to secure places. Convenient visa regimes facilitate tourism. Many countries are now adopting “visa on arrival” regimes to boost tourism.
One feature of great tourism destinations is that they have friendly, warm welcoming people, people well-disposed to visitors.
To fully integrate the tourism sector with the aviation sector, we must upgrade intermodal transportation infrastructure. A national carrier is therefore inevitable which should be integrated with a well-regulated hospitality and creative industry. Nigerian fashion, movies and Nigerian cuisine, are now familiar across the world. These, if properly regulated, integrated and marketed will immensely add to the tourism value chain.
Finally, we must have a sense of history for without history we will not know our destination. It is trite that if one does not know where he or she is coming from, he or she certainly will not know where he or she is going. We have had no disposition to preserve our history. I was chairman, while in the Senate of a committee incongruously called ‘‘Committee for the Immortalization of Senators’’. Its brief was simply to codify the parliamentary history of our country. My experience was a sad one. I had gone to the old National Assembly in Tafawa Balewa Square Lagos only to see Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s desk as President of the Senate being used by a food vendor. There absolutely was nothing to show whatsoever that the buildings ever housed the National Assembly. That building should be a national monument. Sadly every memory of that the building as such has been completely obliterated and no evidence of its rich historical past.
Meanwhile India and Ghana that we visited in the course of this assignment had preserved the histories of their parliaments. In India for instance there was a simulation of their parliament at independence in 1946 with the parliamentarians of the time cast in wax. At the touch of a button, their contributions at the independence debate come alive in their natural voices. Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s university room is still preserved till this day. What he wore at independence is preserved as was the pen he used at the occasion. In India there is the virtual reality of Mahatma Ghandi in their parliament, which is so vivid you could take a photograph with a live Mahatma Ghandi. Their entire parliamentary history is recorded and displayed in digital format.
In Nigeria, historical sites and monuments are degraded and ignored at best. What have been preserved in Badagry, Calabar, Lokoja, Bida, Benin etc to show their rich contributions to Nigeria and global cultural history? Nothing. What happened to NOK culture, Benin Bronze etc?
Unless and until we realize that our history and our culture are perhaps our greatest tourism assets we will never benefit from our immense tourism potentials.
The Niger Delta Region with its rich ecosystems, mangroves, rivers, tributaries, flora and fauna, rich marine life, its hills and valleys, the world known Obudu cattle Ranch in Cross River, the Afi Monoliths, the region’s rainforest has great potentials for tourism. It is one fast strategy to integrate the region and create a regional economy. The current board of the Niger Delta Development Commission as part of its vision has drawn up strategies to make the Niger Delta a tourism destination.
To achieve this we need to change the narrative of the militancy for which the region has become infamous for and improve the general security of the region. We must move from the militancy of kidnapping and pipeline breaches to a new kind of militancy: militancy for peace and development. As new militants we must be advocates for the peace, security and development of the region that we urgently need.
To support sustainable development of the region beyond oil, a finite resource that will either finish or be rendered less important by technology, the board is setting up a Niger Delta Development Bank. The necessary board approvals have been obtained, a consultant appointed and soon a presentation will be made to the federal government. The bank will ensure the bankability and sustainability of our big thicket projects and ensure that their implementation will not depend on political factors like the life of the board.
To task the creativity of our youth the commission plans to ring the region with fibre optics to facilitate internet speed in the region. Internet speed is today a major consideration for the location of businesses. We believe that this will not only attract existing businesses to the region but also new ones. This should turn the region to our own equivalent of ‘‘Silicon Valley’’ thereby attracting technological tourism, the first technological tourism site in the country.
- Ndoma-Egba (SAN), is a former Senate Leader and Chairman of the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission.
