Nigerian Travel Week to engage stakeholders, showcase potentials of creative tourism in Nigeria

Like Nollywood, many other Nigerian sectors grow their industries as stakeholders with little or no input from the government. Tourism is not left out of the list of industries, as over the years, it has remained one of the most neglected sectors by the different levels of government.

For this reason, private practitioners and stakeholders that operate and are invested in the tourism space constantly come up with ideas to grow the industry, one of which is the Nigeria Travel Week scheduled to hold from Sunday, November 17 to Saturday, November 23.

Conceptualised and birthed by Efetobo Awhana, CEO Avantgarde Tours, the theme of Nigeria Travel Week 2019 is ‘Harnessing the creative tourism potentials of culture-rich destinations’.

At a recent press conference, which had in attendance other members of the Nigeria Travel Week, including Femi Lawson, CEO, Skyview Communications; Dr. Adun Okupe, Red Clay Advisory; Lanre Samson, Heventin Ltd; and Tony Ukachukwu of Aviators Africa, members of the press were intimated of the many activities incorporated in the 2019 Nigeria Travel Week.

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According to Awhana, among the activities to make up 2019 Nigeria Travel Week is the upbeat experience, which would take place on Sunday, November 17, at Upbeat Centre, a family amusement park; The Travel Roundtable scheduled for Wednesday, November 20 at the Muson Centre; tours to choice locations in Lagos and Ogun States; Nigeria Tourism Awards (The Balearica Awards) at the Federal Palace Hotel, which would be followed by an after-party at the Hard Rock Café. 2019 Nigeria Travel Week will end with a bang at the Tourism Hangout at La Campagne Tropicana where Amb. Wanle Akinboboye will be on hand to host tourism stakeholders and lovers of fun.

Speaking on the weeklong event, Awhana explained that Nigeria Travel Week is not just about marketing Nigeria as a tourism destination, but that Nigeria can start to make money from tourism.

“Nigeria is behind when it comes to tourism in Africa. When we consider the size of our population and our economy and every other thing we see that we are losing billions by not tapping into tourism. Rwanda, even with the size of their country and their population, they made 400 million dollars last year alone from Gorilla tracking and they don’t have what Nigeria has in terms of tourism potential. They charge 1,500 dollars for tracking one gorilla. One gorilla earns the country that much, so what is Nigeria doing with its gorillas?”

Awhana further urged that there is a need to change the country’s narrative from bad to good and not focus on oil as we have in the past, but diversify the economy by portraying Nigeria in a positive light where tourists would begin to visit the country and contribute to the growth of the Nigerian economy.

Dr Okupe, who gave further statistics shared that the Travel and Tourism industry in Nigeria is projected to contribute just under two per cent (N2billion) to the Nigerian economy according to the WTTC.

Among those expected at Nigeria Travel Week are master filmmaker, Tunde Kelani, UN World Tourism Organisation‘s Senior Expert for Communications in Africa; Kojo Bentum-Williams; Amb. Wanle Akinboboye, tourism stakeholders and others

In all, the team stressed the need for Nigerians to develop the culture of travel and holidaying with tourism in mind as it remains critically beneficial to the average Nigerian and the economy of the country.