Ministry kick starts activities to develop Nigeria’s tourism

The Nigerian Tourism Ministry has launched activities that could revive the sector to contribute immensely to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP.

The tourism minister, Mrs Lola Ade-John said virtual reality gadgets and documentaries priority plans of the ministry to market the potential in the Nigerian tourism industry.

Mrs Ade-John stated this during a courtesy visit by some members of the Association of Nigerian Journalists and Writers of Tourism (ANJET) in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Virtual reality is the use of computer modelling and simulation that enables a person to interact with an artificial three-dimensional (3-D) visual or other sensory environment.

The minister says “the gadgets allow intending tourists to visualise and experience tourism. This will give Nigerian youths in the diaspora more interest in visiting home. Marketing and promotion of Nigeria’s tourism potential is key and huge for us, we are making progress and one of our plans is the use of documentaries and virtual reality gadgets to attract visitors, in order to boost domestic tourism.” She opined.

The minister also said the ministry will collaborate with the state governments in the development of their rich tourism destinations and potentials

“We are currently working on producing documentaries on tourism assets and experiences peculiar to each state. These documentaries would also spur the interest of intending tourists to visit those sites physically. Also, we are going to create community tourism resource centres in every city in Nigeria which will enable tourists to gain access to information of their choice destinations in each city. We are still in the planning stage to upscale the industry, very soon execution of our plans will be implemented,” she said.

The minister said the developmental plans would be done in such a way that when people type “Nigeria” on the internet, it takes them to the ministry’s website that would be fully equipped with the nation’s tourism endowments, in a deliberate attempt to sell Nigeria positively.

Earlier, Victor Nze, President of ANJET who was represented by Taiye Olayemi, the Secretary said reopening of international market channels should be taken seriously as this would fasttrack economic growth.

Nze advised the minister to always present scorecards on quarterly basis on what the industry had achieved, to encourage and spur more growth.

Nigeria President Bola Tinubu created a stand-alone Ministry of Tourism through the appointment of Mrs Lola Ade-John in August 2023.