If inherent
potential is properly harnessed as a business and economic enterprise, tourism
in Nigeria can grow up to 38 per cent and contribute as much as N1.56trillion
by 2025, according to the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC).
The growth
projection is based on a recent report, by the Institute of Directors (IoD)
Nigeria, which forecast an increase in contribution from tourism and
hospitality to economic progress put at about N962.7billion in 2015.
Tuning
tourism to business is part of the diversification pan of the Federal
Government to move the sector away from mere domestic leisure activity to a
money-spinning international investment concern as in many developed countries,
many of which depend heavily on income from the sub-sect. This will attract
more visits to Nigeria, and enhance the industry’s contribution to the nation’s
gross domestic product (GDP), currently put at 1.7 per cent.
The Director
General, NTDC, Folorunsho Coker, in an interaction with select journalists at
the weekend, said the Corporation is working towards making this projection a
reality under his watch, and has instituted a number of action plans to achieve
the target.
Among such
actions, he said, is the launch of a National Tourism Development Fund (NTDF),
under a public-private joint initiative that will also include international
donors and agencies.Coker envisages that the Tourism fund will “empower a
business development team to manage and optimise internally generated revenue.”
Nigeria
already has a National Tourism Master Plan (NTMP), which was developed on its
request by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, in which its former
Secretary General, Francesco Frangialli, believed will enhance the country’s
economic benefits.
He said the
NTMP will “enhance the economic benefits of tourism through sustainable,
people-oriented development policies, which would spread the benefits of
tourism to all parts of the country and all layers of society, thereby greatly
contributing to the eradication of poverty and the upliftment of Nigeria and
its people.”
Underscoring
its importance, Coker noted that tourism is worth about $7.9trillion or 10 per
cent of the global GDP, of which Africa accounts for only five per cent of the
sum.
Furthermore,
he said the sector earns $1.4trillion in foreign exchange, contributes 10 per
cent of the world’s trade, 30 per cent of export service, and employs
292million people direct and indirect.In line with the above, he disclosed that
the Corporation has begun the process of reviewing current enabling legislation
including the NTDC Act No.81 of 1992 and all existing tourism laws, licensing
rates and fees.
It also
plans to review the National Water Transportation Policy, and seek the support
of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), to promote, support and monitor
tourism on the waterways.Coker also said the agency intends to interact with
stakeholders in the industry; develop a periodic E-ZINE, to disseminate
information about the industry to the public; ensure ease of entry and exit
Nigeria through prompt visa issuance; embark on familiarisation tour of all
tourist sites in the six geo-political zones.
Additionally,
it will organise and host tourism exhibitions to mark the World Tourism Day. He
said these are imperative because, “Tourism is an activity of increasing social
and economic performance, which involves the movement of people from one point
to the other in search of fun, business, adventure, religion, culture and
political exchanges.”
“It is the
fastest route to development and economic growth in the 21st Century,” he
added. To achieve more mileage, Coker said the NTDC will request for all
national tourism assets be handed over for rehabilitation into qualitative and
functional world class entities, while also converting available federal
infrastructure and open spaces to contemporary tourism grounds
0 Comments