Mr Friday Anumba, Director of Special Duties, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), says ‘Tour Nigeria’ will boost domestic tourism and Nigeria’s economy if properly utilised.
Anumba said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.
NAN reports that ‘Tour Nigeria’ is the name of a tourism brand created by the NTDC to promote domestic tourism in Nigeria and inaugurated by Folorunsho Coker, the present Director-General of the NTDC in 2017.
According to him, the present leadership of NTDC led by Coker is not resting. It is striving so hard to ensure that domestic tourism moved to the next level.
“Coker, on arrival at NTDC, came with the product ‘Tour Nigeria’. Some of the products under ‘Tour Nigeria’ include Nigeria Flavor.
“This is the product where you have to showcase Nigerian foods, fashion, movies, and music among others.
“As you can see, our Nigerian music artists are doing great by ruling the world with their music.’’
According to him, when you talk of Burna Boy, his music is all over the world, portraying the kind of asset Nigeria has in tourism.
He said the “message we have for the world is ‘Tour Nigeria‘, visit Nigeria, see Nigeria, eat Nigeria food, wear Nigeria fashion, see the sites and monuments in Nigeria.’’
Anumba also said that the Nigerian Association of Tour operators (NATOP), an association under Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), had a prominent role to play in the tourism sector.
He said that though NTDC had the responsibility of marketing Nigeria as a tourist destination, NATOP has the tour packages.
Anumba said that NATOP aim was to sell the products in tourism, as they have the tour packages put together.
“We have a lot of things that will attract people from outside the country to come and see in Nigeria.
“In doing so, we should be able to get people to know that Nigeria is not all about crime, but a place you can do business, have leisure and relax.
“The negative impression that we have in this country are some of the things that tourism can be able to correct,’’ he said.
