World Tourism Day: Tourism, now money spinner, generates 10% of global GDP- Minister

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that sustainability is absolutely necessary if tourism is to achieve its full potentials, which include being a catalyst for economic growth and poverty eradication.

In a statement issued in London, on Wednesday, to mark the 2017 World Tourism Day, the minister said without sustainability, tourism cannot generate benefits to all stakeholders, solve serious problems such as extreme poverty, and preserve precious natural and man-made resources on which human prosperity is based.

Referring to the theme of this year’s World Tourism Day, which is ‘Sustainable Tourism – Tool for Development’, he said member -states of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) are encouraged to make sure that their policies and actions for tourism development and management fully embrace the principles of sustainability.

”The sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established among these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

He said that in the context of the universal 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the United Nations General Assembly designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, underscoring its power to help eradicate poverty.

”Tourism was singled out in three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of sustainable economic growth and decent employment, sustainable production and consumption, and the conservation and sustainable use of oceans (Goals 8,12 & 14).

”Today, tourism generates 10% of the world’s GDP, one in every 10 jobs, and 30% of world trade in services. It is key to many countries’ economies and livelihoods.

It has evolved from an industry engaged in and patronized only by the rich and elites of the society, to an industry enjoyed by all with significant impact on the nation’s economy.

”As an invisible export, tourism creates a flow of foreign currency into the economy of a nation through public revenue which comes in the form of taxes, duties, licenses etc;

business revenue derived from services provided by restaurants, hotels, transport, shops etc and from local resident revenue which come in the form of wages, salaries, rent, interests in investments.

Most of these revenues especially those that accrue to the business establishments and the local residents are usually ploughed back into the economy to create additional business thereby generating grater revenues and increasing employment opportunities,” the Minister said.

He said while Government will play its part in the development and management of tourism and in making it more sustainable, the real key to making Nigeria’s tourism industry flourish lies with the industry itself and the businesses and organizations at its heart.

”Governments use a number of mechanisms to encourage greater private-sector engagement, capturing its expertise in ways that will be beneficial to the companies themselves as well as population.

“The private sector, on the other hand, has an opportunity to work collaboratively with government to yield unprecedented returns in both economic and human capital, and fulfilling the promise of a more equitable, productive, economic growth and promotion of international peace and understanding,” he said.

Meanwhile, Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mr. Folorunsho Coker, said there is a need for a restructuring of the laws governing the practice of tourism in Nigerian.

Coker

Coker, who said this in a chat with journalists in Abuja, enjoined Nigerians to learn to celebrate what the country is blessed with.

This year’s edition of the World Tourism Day was celebrated in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 ,with the theme: “Sustainable Tourism – a Tool for Development”.

World Tourism Day 2017, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), presents a unique opportunity to raise awareness on the contribution of sustainable tourism to development among public and private sector decision-makers and the international community, while mobilizing all stakeholders to work together in making tourism a catalyst for positive change.

Coker said the change in the NTDC bill is to ensure international best practices in the nation’s tourism industry, adding that the 2017 bill, as against the Extant Act, would open up avenues of collaboration with different stakeholders, hoping to enter into partnership in order to promote the industry.

The NTDC boss said: “We don’t have the ideal model to have a functional tourism framework compare with some of the countries around the world, but what we have is good.

If we compare Nigeria, especially with regards to cultural destination heritage tourism that we traditionally known as tourism, to other countries, it is obvious that we are very wealthy when it comes to that.

“And when you talk of security, it is an indisputable fact that there is no country that does not have a security issue. If you are at war, you have a problem.

Every country has an element of crime, and they are dealing with it. Crime today has drastically come down in the country. France, Israel and London, among others, have suffered serious terrorist attack, but people still go there.

So why are we so quick to say the negative about our wonderful country and her assets? We should also be quick to celebrate what we have.

“However, our destinations and our cultural tourism assets have not been in the focus of our investment drives, both from the private and the public sector, hence, those things have suffered. But now, we are drawing attention to them, encouraging people to invest in these huge tourism assets.

While describing Nigeria as a labyrinth of enviable tourism assets and potentials, the NTDC boss disclosed that over the years, Nigeria has been fortunate to develop new forms of cultural exchange, “like our music, which is huge around the world;

our Noolywood is number two in the world; our fashion is simply superb, with our fashion designers competing at international level; our food, our religion enjoy good attention globally.

These show how rich we are in tourism assets. It is now for us to decide what we want and the ingredients need, then put them together to prepare a sumptuous tourism meal to be enjoyed by our nation.”

Coker described domestic tourism as the only form of sustainable tourism that is shock resistant to terrorist attack and foreign exchange depreciation,

and the foundation on which the international tourism can land safely in terms of values for money, quality for service, maturity of both our destinations and institutions.

Revealing his plans to ensure rapid growth of domestic tourism in Nigeria, Coker said, his administration created a sub-brand, ‘Tour Nigeria’, a 5-point action plan that aims to promote domestic tourism and encourage ease of doing business in Nigeria.

The plan, which is acronymic ‘CHIEF’, according to him seeks to introduce global best practices for the tourism industry, encourage human capital and infrastructural development, and aims to promote and protect Nigeria’s cultural heritage, while also pushing for capital projects in the tourism sector.