The Nation Newspaper

Tag: tourism development

  • FG seeks stakeholders’ collaboration for tourism development

    FG seeks stakeholders’ collaboration for tourism development

    The federal government has renewed its calls for stronger collaboration among stakeholders to advance tourism as a key driver of sustainable national growth and development.

    The government said tourism, if properly harnessed, has the potential to serve as a catalyst for economic growth, attract local and foreign investors, and stimulate entrepreneurship across communities.

    Speaking in Ado-Ekiti during the official launch of the Visit Ekiti Project, Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, noted that tourism development plays a vital role in preserving cultural heritage and legacies, projecting Nigeria’s image on the global map, and promoting national pride.

    He also underscored the importance of youth empowerment within the tourism value chain, noting that young Nigerians must be placed at the centre of the process to unleash their creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit.

    The minister reaffirmed the readiness of the federal government to collaborate with the visit Ekiti project to ensure that its core objectives translate into opportunities for the people, particularly the youth.

    He described the project as a visionary platform to showcase the Ekiti natural endowments, festivals, and cultural heritage to the world.

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    Olawande added that the ministry would collaborate with the Visit Ekiti Project on programmes such as cultural exchange opportunities, training in hospitality and tour management, support for youth-led startups in eco-tourism, among other areas.

    In his remarks, the Lead Creative Director of Visit Ekiti Project, Mr. Ayo Ogunro, said the initiative was primarily designed to project the state’s tourism potential to both local and international audiences.

    He noted that the project would serve as a platform to reintroduce Ekiti state to the world as a destination of choice for culture, heritage, and leisure.

    He described Visit Ekiti as a strategic blueprint for economic transformation, saying it would not only attract investors but also harness Ekiti’s abundant natural resources and unique cultural assets for growth.

    He said that the project has the capacity to create jobs, empower communities, and inspire entrepreneurship, particularly among the youth who are expected to play a central role in its execution.

    Ogunro, therefore, called on investors, partners, and residents to support the initiative, stressing that the dream of positioning Ekiti as a leading tourism hub in Nigeria could only be achieved through collective commitment and shared responsibility.

  • Ekiti govt seeks private investment in tourism development

    Ekiti govt seeks private investment in tourism development

    Ekiti State Government said it is seeking private investors for the development of art, culture and tourism sector.

    The Director General, Ekiti State Bureau of Tourism Development, Mr. Wale Ojo-Lanre, said this yesterday in Ado-Ekiti during the logo unveiling of Cultural Tourism Carnival organised by Kitiface Lifestyle Ltd, in collaboration with the bureau.

    Ojo-Lanre said the state government was willing to partner genuine investors in a mutually beneficial relationship on the development of the tourism industry and was open to discussion for collaboration under the private-public partnership.

    The director general noted that Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s administration was passionate about promoting the culture of the state. He said the 2024 Ekiti Cultural Tourism Carnival was the key to reviving the values and culture of the state.

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    He said: “Tourism is private sector driven and this is coming from a private sector. All we need to do is to provide an enabling environment and that’s what we have done. We involved the Ministry of Art, Culture and Creative Economy to show that it is both tourism and culture.

    “They are bringing back almost going into extinction, values and culture. They want to initiate and encourage the young ones. This is one of those things that is adding value and reinitialising the cultural values of Ekiti State.”

    The Chief Executive Officer of Kitiface Lifestyle Ltd, Bose Idiaka, said Ekiti cultural tourism carnival was aimed at showcasing the rich cultural heritage of the state.

    She said the event would take place between November 28 and 30 in Ado-Ekiti, involving different segments, including students from across the 16 local governments.

  • Stakeholder advises govt on tourism development, security

    Chairman Crystal Courts Hotel, Lagos, Prince Emmanuel Obi, has urged the Federal Government to focus more on developing the tourism sector, saying that tourism can only grow in a good operating environment where security and social amenities are available.

    Prince Obi stated that the inability of government to effectively address tourism challenges would truncate the growth of the hospitality businesses across states.

    Advising Nigeria to take a cue from Kenya, Obi pointed out that to achieve tourism growth, the government should be able to provide necessary social amenities such as good roads, security, electricity supply, tourism sites amongst others.

    According him, the industry should be able to afford guests places to go such as museums, landmark centers, beaches, which must be secured to assume full blown hospitality environment.

    He noted that for hospitality to thrive in the country, the environment must be made conducive enough, stressing that what Nigeria does presently is just to operate hotels, which has not attracted enough tourists and visitors.

    Obi who appealed to Lagos State’s Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to help harness Lagos State tourism potentials, said government should provide practitioners with incentives at all levels as indication of taking the sector serious.

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    He stated that growing the hospitality business depends on the impression on one’s mind, noting that the term is highly abused in the country mind.

    “We don’t really have hospitality in this country. Hospitality is not just about hotel”, he said.

    According to him, the tourism potential in this country is tremendous but has not been adequately harnessed.

    “Every nation of the world that is thriving in tourism would always have a museum of history, arts, monuments, libraries, landmarks, old building and these things make tourism tick. Eko Atlantic is the haven we have. Government should create synergy with private owners in making Eko Atlantic a haven for the visitors to see”.

    “The numbers of hotels on the streets in Nigeria have actually shrunk due to lack of patronage. So, there must be a definition while setting up a hotel. The visitors we have in this country are business men who came for conferences and seminars, they didn’t come to have fun,” he added.

    Narrating his experience, Obi said: “I believe in setting  up one and  make it work very well before going to the next one. My hotel is barely five years now but I have been in hospitality business for the past 24 years.

    “In a couple of years,  Crystal Courts Hotel shall be one of the leading hotels with  very comfortable brand as signature”, he promised.

  • Minister seeks support for tourism development

    minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has called for cooperation among the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to generate relevant data that will assist in making policies and planning decisions for the development of tourism in Nigeria.

    The Minister made the call  when he received the Technical Consultant of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) on Tourism Statistics, Mr. David McEwen, who visited him in Abuja.

    McEwen is in Nigeria to meet with the various MDAs of government with a view to developing a framework for the generation of data in the nation’s tourism industry.

    “Tourism, as an industry, and the other sectors are interdependent, so it’s not by coincidence today that while Mr. McEwen is here, he is going to interact with at least ten other parastatals or departments and ministries, including the National Bureau of Statistics; the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation; the Nigeria Police Force; the Central Bank of Nigeria; the Nigerian Immigration Service; the National Park Service; the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria; the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria and the National Population Commission and other bodies,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

    He said the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, which develops policies for the tourism industry, does not generate the data required for policy formation and planning for the industry, hence the need for cooperation and coordination of the relevant MDAs.

    “The coordinating role of the ministry is of great importance and is for us to ensure that we persuade and get the cooperation of all the other different actors in the industry for us to be able to plan and develop,’’ the Minister said.

    According to him, most of the agencies that generate the data are not under the purview of his ministry, but their input remains paramount in order to develop tourism in Nigeria.

    In his remarks,  McEwen, said tourism is one sector that depends largely on other sectors to succeed.

    “I don’t think there is any industry that needs coordination and cooperation like tourism. It’s one part of it that the airlines can’t do without accommodation and the accommodation can’t do without the airlines,” he said.

    The UNWTO Consultant said from the experience he gathered from other countries, statistics generated by other agencies and organs play a vital role in attaining the objective of tourism development, hence the need for the government to play a vital role in the development of synergy for tourism to thrive in Nigeria.

    Mr. McEwen said there will be a Technical Workshop on Tourism Statistics for stakeholders on the way forward, during the UNWTO/CAF Meeting to be hosted by Nigeria in Abuja in June.

  • Lagos Island-Atlanta partners for tourism development

    The Atlanta -Lagos Sister Cities Committee in collaboration with the Lagos Island East, Local Council Development Area has put all machinery in motion to use the sister cities relationship between the cities of Lagos, Nigeria and Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America to generates developmental projects for Lagos Island in the areas such as tourism traffic, provision of medical support such as equipment for health centres being managed by the Local Government, provision of educational materials and tools for primary schools within the  development area, cultural and education exchange programs for the benefits of the citizens of Lagos Island amongst others.

    According to the Executive Secretary of Atlanta- Lagos Sister Cities Committee, Agunloye Adewunmi Bashiru, the newly elected Mayor (Chairman) of Lagos Island East , Local Council Development Area, Kamal Salau-Bashua is passionate about making the collaborative efforts a success.

    Mayor Salau-Bashua, he said, is very keen with the joint efforts and supportive in making sure that the necessary logistic to kicks start the process of achieving the set objective are put in place.

    Agunloye said there abound in Lagos Island many historical monuments and tourists attraction that includes ; the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina built in 1946, Shitta – Bey Mosque on Martins Street built in 1892, the Water House on Kakawa Street owned by Candido Joao Da Rocha built in 1895, Tinubu Square (formerly Independence Square), Oba of Lagos Palace popularly known as (Iga Idungaran) and many other attraction.

    “We are in discussion with our counterpart in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America to generates tourist traffic to Lagos Island to see the culture of our people, Lagos Island foods, monuments and other tourists attractions”.

    Atlanta- Lagos Sister Cities Committee , one of the oldest members of the 17 cities relationships worldwide that make up the Atlanta Sister Cities Commission,  is part of the Sister Cities International whose primary mission is the promotion of better international relations and understanding between United States of America Cities and other Cities of the World through people to people programs that revolve around the axis of social, educational, economic, trade, cultural and technological exchanges. All the above mentioned is being executed through the Local Government.

    Through this organization, a framework for the world network of Sister Cities can be developed. The implication for Lagos Island, Lagos State and, ipso facto, Nigeria can be monumental. It transcends governmental constraints and operatives and as such can be a potent force for various countries involved in the relationship.

  • NTDC partners NDDC on tourism development

    The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) Director-General, Mr. Folorunsho Coker, has expressed his commitment to partnering the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and enlisting its intervention on some tourism assets in the Southsouth region.

    Coker, who spoke during a visit to  NDDC Chairman, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, in his office in Abuja, said it was necessary to redefine the sector by giving it an identity that is easy to sell  to stimulate growth as well as reposition the industry.

    “There is a need to redefine the tourism sector in Nigeria. We need to start within our domain, focusing on consumption of our assets, promotion and development of domestic tourism, which will have multiple effects on job creation and poverty alleviation while strengthening the GDP and our currency.  Everyone in the value chain of tourism must work together and be ready to drive the market with a new brand TOUR NIGERIA,” he said.

    Coker, who called for an investment in the promotion of domestic tourism, described Nigeria as a  market with a vibrant and dynamic business environment.

    “One of my strategic imperatives is to bring all stakeholders under one umbrella to sell a single all inclusive tour packages for Nigerians. We need to package tourism in a simple manner that the average Nigerian can use, if we don’t package it well, individuals cannot take advantage of it. Nigerian will understand the product better, because they are a most critical audience and will demand better value for their money,” he said.

    Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba congratulated the DG on his appointment given his exploits in the Lagos State Tourism Ministry.

    “We are very happy that you are at the helms of affairs in NTDC. We are very proud of what you did in Lagos State. You are on a bigger stage now and we expect you to make a difference in the tourism sector as you did in Lagos,” he said.

    Senator Egba said NDDC was an intervention agency, whose core mandate is to integrate and create partnerships with relevant agencies’ like NTDC, especially now that there is a shift from oil.

    He noted that if tourism could change the economy of Calabar, it could also do so in Nigeria. The NDDC mission, according to him, is to facilitate the rapid, ever-growing and sustainable development of Nigeria.

    The NDDC helmsman solicited the support of the DG to intervene in the on-going case with the Calabar National Museum, a national monument and as such cannot be tampered with.

    Senator Egba expressed the willingness of the Commission to work with NTDC in sailing the ship of the tourism sector because of its enormous potentials.

  • Talks on tourism development hold in Spain

    The fourth edition of the Tourism Investment and Business Forum for Africa (INVESTOUR) will hold during this year’s edition of International Tourism Trade Fair(FITUR) holding in Madrid the Spanish capital from January 30 to the February 3.

    It is an annual tourism business and knowledge exchange platform in which representatives of African tourism and potential Spanish investors/partners meet to discuss about business and cooperation opportunities.

    The forum is a joint initiative of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the International Tourism Fair of Madrid (FITUR) and Casa África (representing the Spanish Government) that arose from the growing importance of tourism in Africa as a catalyst of socio-economic development and recognition of its potential as a destination for tourism investment and cooperation with Spain in the following areas:

    The overall objective of the forum is to promote sustainable tourism development in Africa by opening up its destinations to the Spanish outbound and investment market, fostering the growth of Africa’s entrepreneurial fabric and job creation.

    The fourth edition of the forum is divided into two sessions, a first session focused on presentations and debates and a second session dedicated to “Business to Business” (B2B) meetings between African project managers and Spanish companies.