Rae-Omoh meets tourism stakeholders

HE Acting Director-General, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mrs Mariel Rae-Omoh, has promised to work with stakeholders in the Nigerian tourism and hospitality industries to sell the country as a destination of choice.

Speaking at an interactive meeting with stakeholders in Lagos, Rae-Omoh said revealed her major goal is to sell the country’s tourism potential to the outside world and, in turn, boost our economy.

Her words: “My objectives are to raise the NTDC morale to accelerate the mission of boosting the industry; to cordially work with the stakeholders, and to develop a template for running tourism in Nigeria.

“We can only achieve our goals when the experts in the sector join their voices and ideas with ours. Then, we will set the goals to be met and come out with a practicable blueprint to achieve the set objectives.”

Rae-Omoh described stakeholders as key in any development, explaining that “they must be embraced so as to succeed, especially, in this industry.

“Our basic goal is to sell our country to the world; we cannot do it on the pages of the newspapers. Professionals and stakeholders should be the ones fronting the goals on our behalf; so we need to collaborate with them.

“I need a lot of workable advice, suggestions and challenges from those on the field so that the industry can become an economic hold for the country.”

The NTDC boss added that boosting the morale of the staff would further accelerate the mission of boosting the industry. “The staff is the engine behind the success of any organisation; if they have low morale, the result will be failure so they must be adequately motivated,” she said.

The stakeholders at the interactive section promised to support and collaborate with the NTDC boss to achieve her lofty goal for the industry.

They described the appointment of Rae-Omoh as a prayer answered by players in the industry to have a professional, both in qualifications and experience, as the captain of NTDC, which according to them, is a lubricant to the wheel of the development of the industry to meet with the international best practice.

The President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies  (NANTA), Mr Bankole Bernard, said the industry should celebrate the appointment of Rae-Omoh, being an insider who knows where the shoe pinches the industry, because of her readiness to enter practical development and promotion of the industry.

Ayo Olowoporoku of Hotel Supports in his submission called for a good political will with a good regulatory framework to drive the industry.

The hospitality stakeholder, who noted that so many countries in the world, including Kenya, and South Africa, have benefited from tourism, charged the Federal Government to adequately fund NTDC to enable the country maximally benefit from the sector.