It is no longer a secret that more and more Nigerians have developed a penchant for travelling abroad on vacation and business trips possibly due to poor packaging of our local tourism industry for local consumption. The Director General of NTDC, Mrs Sally Mbanefo, has risen to the occastion by embarking on schemes aimed at remodelling the industry by promoting domestic tourism with a view to making sure that tourism in general has regained its pride of place in Nigeria. IBRAHIM RAMALAN writes on the development
Nigeria has a wide range of tourist activities to offer. The country is rich in natural beauty like, long blue beaches, rivers and lakes, forests. The breathtaking views of the waterfalls and soothing environment makes the country attractive to tourists. Apart from long beaches and the marine activities, the historical monuments, exciting trips to the tropical forests, exploring the wildlife, art and culture, mouth watering carnivals and the lifestyle of the country leaves no one in doubt that the country is one of the greates troves and destinations for tourists.
Specially, the traditions and culture of the country represents the simplicity in the lifestyle of the dwellers. The markets of Nigeria showcase the handicrafts and sculptures. The hotels and other accommodation facilities represent the warm hospitality and local customs, and the calm and peaceful environment enhances into the beauty of the country. These factors make the memories of Nigeria tour everlasting.
According to available data, Nigeria recorded a total 4,037,808 tourist arrivals in 2013, while US$ 649,468,486 forms their expenditure.
It is therefore important to note that, a vibrant business environment is supported by a vibrant tourism community which thrives on the financial support of visitor spending and contributes to the quality of life through sporting events, festivals, carnivals, religious tourism, conference/business tourism, wildlife, eco-tourism, beach tourism/holiday resorts all of which we have in abundance.
Some of the most serene destinations located across the country are: Azumini Blue River Rose, the Long JuJu Shrine of Arochukw, Yola Municipality, Ibeno Beach, Ogbunike Cave, Rojenny Tourist Village in Anambra State, lgbo-Ukwu, Yankari National Park, Wikki Warm Springs in Bauch state, the Hills of Benue Located in the middle belt region of Nigeria, lkyogen Hills, Ushogbo Hills, Bassa Hills, Lake Chad, Obudu Cattle Ranch, Sillicon Hill, Mbari Cultural Centres, The home of Mbari sculptural houses, Eke-Nguru in Aboh Mbaise, Oguta Lake Holiday Complex, Birnin, Kudu Rock Painting, NOK Village, Terra cotta, heads of animals and man; and weapons of war are abundant on display.
It was againt this backdrop the Director General of National tourism development corporation (NTDC), Mrs. Sally Mbanefo, on assumption of office, decided to focus more on domestic tourism. Bearing in mind that domestic tourism has the greatest capabilities of encouraging Nigerians to celebrate their own values, tourist attractions and cultural heritage thereby building a sustainable tourism industry that can attract investment, the DG took up the initiative to tour some of our known destinations and attractions; meeting with state officials, sometimes chief executives of the states, traditional rulers, tourism administrators and operators with a view to understanding their challenges and jointly seeking solutions to them.
The DG expressed that the main impetus that drive her efforts at selling and entrenching the idea of domestic tourism is that: “domestic tourism market has very high revenue and job creation potentials. For instance, the 2013 Osun Osogbo festival recorded 21,713 domestic tourists including, 123 international tourists while N 58,230,170 forms the expenditure.- Abuja Carnival [2013] recorded 19,015 domestic tourists which includes 113 international tourists while N147, 385,250 forms the expenditure. -Religious tourism recorded over a million”.
She argued that in contrast to international tourists, “domestic tourists know the destination, its language, its customs, its laws, its climate, its cultural context. As a general rule, domestic tourists are more demanding, especially when it comes to the quality of products. Out of the four main motivations of tourists: discovery, encountering others, experiencing something unique, and resting, the last two are certainly more prominent among domestic tourists. Local tourists also seek a very wide diversity of types of destinations and tourism activities, in other words, the range of product offerings should be as broad as possible and for a country like Nigeria, our size and diversity potentials are of immense advantage. ”
This therefore will to a large degree discourage unnecessary foreign vacation they go oversees and encourage Nigerian to vacate within Nigeria, explore and appreciate the tourism endowments of the country, which will in turn boost the economic fortunes of the country.
Agreeably, this may be the reason why the restless DG, is eternally optimistic that, “Tourism can help us achieve the Nigeria of our dreams, not only for the present but also for generations to come. Therefore, I am appealing to big businesses and individuals to adopt tourist sites and develop them as part of their contributions to the development of domestic tourism in Nigeria.”
She has since began acting it out by reaching out to states, partnering with the private sector in the sustainable development of tourism infrastructure and services which culminated in signing MOU with business giants, successfully bridging the gap between the public and private sector, creating awareness on domestic tourism i.e. show-casing national and local heritage/cultural festivals, tourist sites and attractions. Bridging the gap between the tour & travel operators and airlines which resulted in better synergy between the parties.
Dr. Iboko Imo Iboko, a federal commissioner at Federal Character Commission, commended the activities of Mbanefo during a one-day sensitisation workshop for the Chief Executive Officers, Directors of Human Resources and Administrators of Ministerial Departments and Agencies (MDAs), held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Auditorium, Ministry of Justice, Abuja recently: “The activities of Sally Mbanefo within the first year in office clearly showed that she evidently understood the concept of tourism development and promotion with reference to development of economy and empowerment of the people of a nation.”
Dr. Iboko added, “While her approach to achieving the domestic tourism development and promotion in Nigeria is apt, especially with the visit to traditional rulers, who are the custodian of our culture and heritage, domestic tourism promoters, tourist sites in the six geopolitical zones in the country with the aim of knowing their state and developing one site per zone. I believe, without any reasonable doubt, with Sally Mbanefo’s giant stride at promoting domestic tourism, Nigeria would begin to enjoy, in great measure, the enviable goodies of tourism, while a good number of jobs would also be created at local governments,”
Mbanefo, however described budgetary allocation as the major problem facing the corporation, which according to her, if solved, will enable the corporation to properly train its staff; regularly collaborate with the private sector operators in forging new ideas for the sector, and effectively market and promote Nigeria locally to boost domestic tourism.
“Solving this will position the agency to do the following: Proper training of the corporation staff. Regular collaboration with the private sector operators in forging new ideas for the sector. Effective marketing and promotion of Nigeria locally to boost domestic tourism. Collaborating with other government agencies; such as the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, National Park Service among others. Encouraging and assisting non-profit organisations operating within the travel and tourism industry as tourism promotion cannot be done alone by government and its agencies because there are specific areas of tourism development that requires certain skills and interests that are not within government.” she said
Nevertheless, the NTDC boss has enjoined Nigerians to visit the over 7,000 tourist sites and patronise the 4,279 hotels in the country stressing that, “Nigeria must put in place, mechanism through which benefits can be derived from all departures. The NTDC is coming up with a recommendation to government on how domestic tourism can benefit from this.
