The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has rolled out a number of measures, as part of efforts to boost the sector in the country.
The steps include technical assistance, capacity building and the revision of the country’s tourism master plan, as well as organisation of international conferences in Nigeria and certification of tourism courses.
The UN agency announced the measures at the end of a two-day meeting between the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, and the global tourism agency at the headquarters of the UNWTO in Madrid, Spain.
As part of the measures to attract global attention to tourism in the country, the Minister, who led the country’s delegation to the meeting, disclosed Nigeria’s desire to host the 60th meeting of the global agency’s commission for Africa in 2018.
In addition, the global agency is widening access to its e-library for Nigerian tourism officials and offering support for relevant tourism institutions and agencies in Nigeria.
Under the UNWTO’s technical assistance programme, Nigeria would be assisted in the area of data collection for the elaboration of tourism statistics, rural tourism development, hotel classification and in designing programmes to create awareness for tourism.
In the area of capacity building, the focus would be on the empowerment of women in tourism through the centres being planned for the six geo-political zones and the training of festival managers, among others.
The Good Of Nigeria
UNWTO Secretary-General, Mr Taleb Rifai, who led the agency’s strong delegation to the meeting, said that the implementation of the programmes would start immediately and continue for the next two years.
He commended the Minister for his “great intelligence and big vision” for tourism in Nigeria, adding that the ”good chemistry” between him and the Minister must be used for the good of Nigeria.
Mr Mohammed on his part described the meeting as “most useful” and beneficial to Nigeria.
“I want to express the appreciation of the Government and people of Nigeria to the UNWTO for their support.
“You have been passionate in your collaboration and you have helped us in more ways than we could imagine,” the Minister said.
The meeting, which marked the return of Nigeria to the centre stage of the organisation it joined in 1975, was held at the instance of the UNWTO Secretary-General, who invited Mr Mohammed to the Agency’s headquarters after the two met at the 58th UNWTO CAF Meeting in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, last April.