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Stakeholders give ways tourism can rival crude oil earnings in Nigeria

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IBRAHIM QUADRI

Stakeholders in the Nigerian tourism sector have recommended the application of digital tools and technologies for the development of the sector, noting the industry has the capability to generate sustainable revenues that will rival current earnings from crude oil.

This was part of the communiqué released after a one day stakeholders forum organised by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) in the South East with the theme; Utilizing Digital Tools For Optimization And Destination Marketing” on Friday November 26, 2021 to chart a way forward for the recovery and accelerated development of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry.

The stakeholders stressed in the communiqué that the global business ecosystem is constantly swamped with disruptive digital tools that increasingly make living and business seamless and qualitative, adding that tourism entrepreneurs must adopt digital tools technologies for wider reach.

“The world is currently in an era where technology is the major fulcrum that creates momentum in the leisure-travel space.

“Digital Revolution has resulted in changes in the cultures of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.

“Technology is changing the tourism market, increasing reach, changing the characteristics of tourism jobs and the way destinations are promoted while also demanding new skills from tourism entrepreneurs.

“Businesses that rely on physical contact alone will not function optimally. Tourism marketers have to understand the trends in the digital marketing domain and be able to adopt tools to remain competitive,” they said.

The stakeholders stated that the Nigerian tourism industry has the capability to generate sustainable revenues that will rival current earnings from crude oil, by closing the gap between technology-driven and globally connected tourism businesses and traditional ones.

“That Tourism businesses should adopt digital tools such as travel apps, digital marketing platforms etc. to aid service delivery in the sector. Bite-sized videos and images are quite effective for destination marketing.

“That influencer marketing has proven to be quite effective. Consumers trust an influencer more than traditional advertisement so destination marketers should make use of influencers for destination marketing.

“That we need to consider and deploy innovative solutions that are homegrown, practical and tailor-made for our specific environment and people”, the communiqué read.

It was further concluded at the meeting that NTDC strongly believes that to become tourism hub in Africa, Nigeria needed to develop domestic tourism first and that the development of domestic tourism will increase the country’s attraction to sponsors and investors.

According to them, “the Tour Nigeria brand was created by the Corporation to drive domestic consumption of our tourism assets and commercialize tourism for increased revenue generation.

They stated that:” The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture remains committed to providing the enabling environment for all agencies to perform optimally towards boosting the tourism sector in Nigeria.9., and that there must be an effective inter-agency collaboration between the government and private sector practitioners for the industry to grow.”

They, however, submitted that domestic tourism was six times larger than international tourism and that it was the agreed opinion of all stakeholders at the forum that the use of technology in the tourism and hospitality ecosystem was vital to the sector’s development and recovery.

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