Imoke to speak at NATOP AGM in Maya

The former Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke will be the guest speaker at 2017 Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Association of Tour Operators (NATOP).

The 2017 edition which will hold on May 2, at Renaissance Hotel Ikeja will focus on the theme “Positioning Tourism within the Nigerian Economic space.”

However, Senator Imoke will be speaking on “The Building Blocks of Tourism Products where he will be sharing his experience as a two-term Governor of the leading tourism state in Nigeria (Cross River State). For this year’s edition, young and aspiring tour operators will be hosted to a workshop themed “ Challenges Facing the promotion of Tourism by the Youth.”

According to the President of  the association and Chief Executive Officer of REMLORDS, Mr Nkereuwem Onung, “We have observed that a lot of young tour operators are promoting domestic tours to different destinations in Nigeria and there is a need to encourage them.

“These young ones are the future of tourism in Nigeria and we need to support and harness them for the sake of the Nation.”

The last year’s AGM held in Calabar, Cross River State, with the theme. “Tourism the low hanging fruit in a depressed economy” with Professor Pat Utomi as guest speaker, it released a 10-point agenda for tourism in Nigeria which has become the talking point in Nigeria since then.

Everyone is talking about low hanging fruit, Presidential Council of Tourism and Review of Tourism Masterplan issues that were raised in Calabar.

NATOP also called for the creation of a stand-alone Tourism Ministry Which is yet to receive attention from The government.

NATOP was the only tourism association to host a World Tourism Day event last year on September 27th, an event where it pointed that the government to lack the political-will to develop and promote tourism to an enviable .