Nigeria has won the bid to host the 2018 edition of the meeting of African ministers in charge of Tourism, tagged the UN World Tourism Organisation (WTO) Commission for Africa (CAF) Nigeria won the hosting right by acclamation following the presentation of a fi ve-minute video, entitled ”Simply Nigeria”, to delegates at the 59th edition of the UNWTO CAF meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Th e video highlighted Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage and tourism destinations. Speaking at the event, he chairman of the UNWTO CAF and Zimbabwean minister of tourism and hospitality industry, Dr Walter Nzembi, said: “Procedurally, when a member state off ers its destination for the host of the next CAF, we all put that request to a test.” Making a case for Nigeria’s bid, which was launched at the 58th edition of the UNWTO CAF Meeting in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, in 2015, Nzembi said it presents an opportunity for the country of almost 200 million people ”to showcase its rich cultural heritage and to promote Nigeria as a leisure and business destination.” Responding, the minister of culture and tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said Nigeria is a country of peaceful and hospitable people adding that the 2018 UNWTO CAF Meeting will be a practical demonstration of the government’s commitment to developing the tourism sector as an alternative source of revenue.
