GOOGLE, in its huge influence to impact and organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful, has seen tourism as a catalyst for diversification and development of Nigeria economy, hence the collaboration between Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) and Google became necessary which kicked–off a one day intensive training for top management staff on Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
The capacity building programme which took place recently at the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) Headquarters in Abuja showcased how tourism can exploit digital technology to market and promote tourism in line with global best practice.
The Director General of the (NTDC), Mr. Folorunsho Coker, expressed delight over the training and welcomed participants for the training. He commended the partnership between Google team led by Miss Titi Akinsanmi who is the Head Public Policy and Government Relations west and Francophone Africa with NTDC and further commended their commitment towards continuous training as this is the second time that staff of the Corporation has benefitted from Google training.
“Digital technology is globally employed to drive tourism. Therefore I really appreciate Google for their commitment towards training of our staff in the relevant technology”, he said.
The NTDC chief reechoed that capacity building and staff welfare are the priority on his agenda in repositioning and promoting domestic tourism in the country.
“The staff of NTDC are important stakeholders in the tourism value chain, because they are the implementers of the Corporation’s strategic imperatives, hence the need for this training, they must possess technical know-how and skills to drive the development of the Nigeria’s tourism industry”, Coker added.
The Director General who also attended the training opined that it is high time Nigerians tell their stories to the world digitally as the world is undergoing dramatic reforms in digital technology.
His statement reads, “Nobody can tell our stories better than ourselves”. We have favorable climate, we are the most populous nation in Africa, culture, food, music, fashion, nollywood, entertainment to our advantage, let’s sell it to the outside world”.
Regarding this, the Google Resource Personnel, Mr.Ogundele Olumuyiwa Caleb noted that the partnership between Google and NTDC has been an all embracing and indeed multi-faceted as it has impacts on all aspects of tourism development. He assured that Google would invariably continue to do its part towards the sustainable development of tourism in Nigeria.
“The overall objective of this training is to equip the participants with the requisite digital skills to conceptualize and articulate targeted marketing strategies with a view of attracting a broad spectrum of tourists and create the conditions to evolve into a world class destination”, he said.
Speaking on behalf of the participants, Mr. Nuhu Auwalu, Deputy Director of procurement unit of the Corporation commended the Director General and Google for the initiative while thanking them for the partnership.
“On behalf of the top management staff, I want to appreciate the DG for his pro-activeness towards the welfare of the NTDC staff, we are very happy. This training came at the right time as this year’s World Tourism Day (WTD) theme is “Tourism and the Digital Transformation”, we say thank you for impacting us with this digital knowledge, thank you Sir”, he said.
