NAN-H-51
Tourism
By Collins Yakubu-Hammer
Abuja, July 5, 2017 (NAN) Dr Chike Ezeudeh, President, Hotel Owners Forum, Abuja, (HOFA) has called on government to create an environment to enable the tourism and hospitality sector thrive and generate revenue for the country.
Ezeudeh made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to him, it is the sole responsibility of government to provide policies for the sector to move forward.
“But when this is not done, it becomes very difficult for the investors to come in and contribute to the development of the sector.
‘’Look at Kenya, Tanzania and other countries; they mainly depend on tourism and agriculture unlike Nigeria.
“Europeans go to tourist sites in The Gambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt and others because there is an environment that enabled them to do so.
‘’But this is not so in Nigeria, rather, Nigerians usually visit tourist sites in other countries.
“This is because there is still room for improvement on our tourist sites to encourage the participation of the private sector.
‘’We are not saying government should put much money in tourism but do the needful through policies that will sustain the interest of the citizens in visiting tourism sites.
‘’With the population of Nigerians, we can capitalise on what we have internally and move the sector forward,’’ he said.
According to Ezeudeh, tourism and hospitality sector has the capacity to create millions of jobs for Nigerians.
He, however, noted that the Abuja Children Zoo, Jabi Lake in the FCT and some tourist sites across the country had little to offer visitors.
The HOFA president called on the private sector to contribute to the collective efforts to develop tourism and hospitality, adding ‘’it is high time they woke up from their slumber.’’
He called for a review of the interest being charged by banks on loans secured by stake holders in tourism for the development of the tourism sector in the country.
“You can hardly get finance or loan for tourism investment in Nigeria on a reasonable interest rate.
‘’There are bank charges, government agencies’ charges; so you find it difficult to break through unlike in other countries.”
Ezeudeh emphasised the need for government to appoint tourism and hospitality professionals to the position of responsibility in the sector based on merit and not religious or tribal sentiment, for better performance. (NAN)
CMY/JEO/DUA
Edited by Jane-Frances Oraka/Dada Ahmed