Stakeholders in the Nigerian tourism industry have commended the creation of a standalone Ministry of Tourism by President Bola Tinubu, while assuring that the development would reposition tourism and its overall impact on the nation’s gross domestic product.
The stakeholders, who are mainly from the tourism private sector, described the action by the government as a move in the right direction because tourism is the lowest hanging fruit for the country in view of the dwindling oil revenue and urgent need for diversification of the economy.
Reacting to the development, Nkereuwem Onung, president, Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), said, “We have to first congratulate and appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for listening to public opinion and ensuring industry representation”.
Also reacting to the development and why the government decided to create a standalone ministry for the tourism industry, Ikechi Uko, CEO, Akwaaba African Travel Market, and an industry expert, said, “Maybe the government has seen the importance of tourism and the role it can play to ease the foreign exchange scenario.
“I am happy the Nigerian government is taking such a serious step”.
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While describing the move as a milestone and a spirit lifting situation, he noted, “To earn dollars, we need to export and the easiest thing to export is our tourism”.
For Emmanuel Ele, CEO, Six Regions Hotels, the development is a right step in the right direction, but that it is not enough to create a ministry without the political will to move it forward, considering the challenges including security and weak economy.
According to Olufemi Talabi, chairman and CEO, CitiHeight Hotel Group, a thriving indigenous hotel chain, the tourism ministry without, a doubt, is long overdue, especially considering the fact that tourism makes a significant contribution to the economy.
“The advantage, amongst others, is that the ministry will be more focused and will be able to devote attention to the tourism industry, unlike before when tourism is just part of a bigger ministry.
“It will also help in the rapid development of the industry. We can now for once have mouthpiece internationally. Nigeria should now be fully represented at the WTM, London, in November this year, after a long time.
“I even think that the minister should seize the initiative to register her arrival and relevance in the tourism space worldwide,” Talabi said.
Modupe Oyebola, a tour operator, also expressed her excitement, saying that tourism can now breath, as stakeholders have a body to interface with on right policy formulation and implementation.
With the ministry in place, the FTAN president said, “We need to create policies and drive traffic into our country. The value chain of tourism must be improved.The MDAs must be held accountable”.
Ele also advised that the country should avoid running the repositioned tourism ministry like the normal public sector enterprise. “It must be run by professionals and with a private sector template if we want to reap positive results, otherwise it will still be the same way of providing employment in order to settle family, friends and political allies,” Ele said.
On the appointment of Lola Ade-John, a banking and IT expert, as Minister of Tourism, Onung said,
“I believe the minister will do well with her IT background because business has left the pipeline model to the platform model”.
On the minister’s non-tourism background, the Citi Height chairman noted that although an experienced hand in the tourism industry would have been better, all things being equal, “in the circumstances, she should assemble a team of experienced professionals to assist her”.
Also that at that level her managerial capabilities, she should more relevant to the industry.
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It would be recalled that during her screening by the Senate, Lola Ade-John promised to leverage her IT background to lift the industry if appointed minister. The industry look forward to collaborative working relationship with her and her team.
The Ministry of Tourism was thriving during Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime, until Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, when it was subsumed under the Ministry of Information and Culture, a development that was highly criticised by industry stakeholders for its ineffectiveness in furthering the gains achieved by the previous governments in the industry.
