MR Folorunsho Coker, the Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), has emphasized the need to redefine the tourism sector, saying “a redefinition of what tourism is as an industry, as a site and as a channel through which we drive the increase in consumption of tourism assets in Nigeria”.
“Our initial focus is on domestic tourism, to make the best use of what we have and CONSUME MORE OF NIGERIA”, he stressed.
The DG said this while receiving an eight-man team of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) which paid him a courtesy visit at the Corporation’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
The NTDC chief, who described the Corporation as a corporate member of NANTA expressed the readiness of the Corporation to be a worthy partner to NANTA in championing the course of tourism in Nigeria, and collaborate with the association on the area of statistics and data collection, to enable private investors know which state has potentials to explore and develop.
Coker demanded for a working partnership between the private and the public sector in the development and promotion of tourism in Nigeria. He assured that public/private partnership will boost the tourism agenda of Nigeria.
Earlier in his speech, the National President of NANTA, Mr. Bankole Bernard, described the appointment of Folorunsho Coker as a blessing to the tourism sector, stress, “I am sure that the good work he did with the Lagos tourism
would be replicated in the 36 states in Nigeria.”
Bernard expressed displeasure about the manner in which the promotion of tourism is being managed in Nigeria, saying, “Tourism has not been well developed, promoted and packaged because the country had wholly depended and focused on the oil sector. Tourism is everything. We all have to embrace it and take it seriously”.
The NANTA National President while describing the country as a potential tourism market, with a vibrant and dynamic business environment especially with the improved Nigerian’s image under the present administration, called for a conscious investment in the promotion of domestic tourism in Nigeria.
