NAN-ELS-5
Tourism
By Collins Yakubu-hammer
Abuja, Nov. 7, 2016 (NAN) The Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) said
the country’s tourism sector possessed the potential to replace oil as source of revenue generation.
The President of FTAN, Chief Tomi Akingbogun, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.
He said most of the country’s potential had not been tapped, stressing that “if you travel round Nigeria, you will discover that a lot of tourism potential have not been touched.
“And these untapped potential deprive the country of getting the revenue oher countries
generate from tourism.
“With the recent Tourism Summit, I believe this administration is in the right direction to take the sector to another level.”
The FTAN president said there were countries that do not have oil but were doing well due to
the way their tourism sector was packaged to attract tourists from other countries.
He reiterated the need for government at all levels to actively participate in taking the sector to the next level by marketing their preferred destinations to tourists.
He added that “some years back, the Supreme Court ruled that state governments have the the right and power to venture into tourism.
“But many states in the country are yet to capitalise on the ruling to venture into the tourism business.
“Most of them are waiting for monthly federal allocation from Abuja; if they go into tourism and make their tourist sites attractive, they would make a lot of money.
“I think if local, state and Federal Government embark on tourism development and are committed, then relying on oil for revenue will just be an addition to the revenue of the country.”
Akingbogun said that FTAN as a private sector was open to collaboration with government
at all levels to ensure that the sector became a huge revenue collector for the country. (NAN)
CMY/HA
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Edited by Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu