Tour
By Taiye Olayemi
Osun (Ile-Ife), May 24, 2019 (NAN) Mr Olusegun Runsewe, the Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), on Friday appealed to Nigerian tour operators to take tourism promotion seriously by improving on their tour packages for acceptability by international tourists.
Runsewe made the appeal during the 2019 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigeria Association of Tour Operators (NATOP) held at Ife Grand Resort in Ile-Ife, Osun.
The theme of the AGM is “Impact of Culture, Partnership and Governance on Nigeria Tourism Development”.
Runsewe said that for every tour packaged by tour operators; new, unpopular and captivating tourist sites should be included in such packages to create adventure for tourists
He said that recycling of particular destinations would not put Nigeria in better position to compete favourably with other countries of the world.
“We have paid lip service to the promotion of tourism in Nigeria, it is time we take tourism seriously, think outside the box and do things differently.
“The tour operators must ensure that new adventurous sites are included in their tours; this is possible because Americans and Chinese, the greatest travellers in the world deal with packaged tours.
“This is the only industry where nobody is a failure, and it is such that can liberate the country from lots of problems like unemployment. So, we should show seriousness in grooming it,” he said.
Runsewe advised the Federal Government to intensify efforts that would ensure the nation had a national carrier which would further boost the tourism industry.
He said NCAC was planning to take state Commissioners for Tourism to Dubai to see what was obtainable there and domesticate such toward the possibilities of promoting Nigeria tourism industry.
According to him, the visit would endear the commissioners to groom the nation’s tourism potential well enough to further attract both local and international tourists.
He urged tourism stakeholders to desist from the spirit of competition but embrace collaborations which he said would yield better reward. (NAN)
PTB/PAD
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Edited by Peter Dada