Taking tourism promotion beyond COVID-19

The efforts of tourism stakeholders in Nigeria have been highly commendable for the seriousness accorded to practical promotion of tourism which is presently yielding economic growth for all and sundry.

The hype given to domestic tourism in the third and last quarter of 2020 was aggressively enormous and one may not likely believe such kind of efforts could be invested in such a short period of time, when the tourism industry globally is experiencing economic knocks from every corner.

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown were really a game changer and a unifying force in promoting domestic tourism without borders, status, colour or business differences.

No one will pray for the lockdown to continue because of the untold hardship and economic scares it has left in the business trends of tourism, travels, hospitality and other value chain of the industry.

But the truth is that it has brought the best out of the private sector when you talk of domestic tourism promotion. For the core promoters of domestic tourism, it is a breakthrough as the effort open other vistas of opportunities for them to create varieties of domestic packages. For the big outbound promoters, it was a pass time for them to keep themselves busy pending when the borders and stiff protocols of the COVID-19 pandemic are relaxed so that they could start their lucrative outbound business where they make quick and large sum of money within a short period of time.

But on the contrary, domestic tourism is more sustaining at the long run compared with the out bound which is a short run business because of the unstable foreign policies and favourable indigenisation policies that come with bilateral agreements as well as other unstable situations in this regards among which is COVID-19.

Notwithstanding, Travelpulse&MICE is not against anyone’s line of business and survival norms, but the truth is that, when we talk of domestic tourism, we should hold it in high esteem because there is no outbound tourism without a concrete foundation for a domestic tourism. Everything we refer to as outbound tourism is domesticated at the country of origin.

Again, if the private sector and the government of those countries did not have a grand vision to make tourism an attractive economic viable sector, there wouldn’t have been any unique product or services to attract outbound promoter or ever think of such countries?  Do you know that most of the dollars involved in outbound packages end up in the pockets of local operators sustain the tourism value chain in those countries you package tours to?

The dollars that are realised from the tour packages are shared among the airport pick and drop operators, hotels, tour companies, eat-out restaurants, cinemas, gift shops, shopping malls, tourist sites and other numerous ancillary services that make a round trip package.

However, today, domestic tourism is the backbone of so many tourism leading countries of the world like the Dubai in the UAE, Israel, Turkey, South Africa, Kenya, UK, Saudi Arabia, the Disney World in the US, France and other interesting places, they all started somewhere with a grand vision by the private sector and supported by good government policies that have human face value and economic driven.

So Travelpulse&MICE commend all those that sacrifice their personal time and money to activate and stimulate the domestic tourism spirit that has added countless number of tourism products in terms of natural and man-made monuments, fascinating landscapes, waterfalls, hills, festivals and beeches as well as other wonderful sites and tourist attractions to the Nigeria to do list for tourists.

Again,  this effort did not only stop at discovering and exploring alone but people have gone the extra mile to packaging newer tours, which gave them ample opportunity to make brisk business and smile to the banks at a time when is at standstill.

The COVID-19 is indeed a great attestation that when the going got tough, the tough get going, a sign of Nigerians’ resilience and innovative spirit.

The stakeholders have done well but this is not the time to celebrate or even think or but consolidate on the job well done a time to do more of discovering and exploring so that now and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown we may have abundance of products and services to sell and make more money from in the future.

Also, explorers should also be precise with posting discovered sites because posting on the social media without precise and adequate information, data and location is also a way of de marketing the product or site in question.

This is where we talk of brand package which is also a component of building a structured grand vision, mission and policy to chart a sustainable roadmap for tourism in Nigeria.

Many will be asking, why Travelpulse&MICE has not really talked about the role of the government in this whole struggle.

The simple reason is that the government from the federal, state and local level needs not only a classroom tourism orientation but also an on the spot practical tourism tours to know the nitty gritty of the money spinning industry.

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