Photo Caption:
From left, The keynote speaker, Professor Michael Ikupolati; Former Director, FTC Tourism Department, Abuja, Dr Uchechukwu Agbanusi;President, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Nigeria, Mr Alex Nwuba; Chairman/CEO, Tropicana Beach Resort, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye; Principal Partner, Sustainable Eco6tem, Mr Chibuikem Diala; President of FTAN, Mr Nkereuwem Onung and Member FTAN BOT, Dr Munzali Dantata, at the sixth edition of the Nigeria Tourism Investors Forum and Exhibition (NTIFE), held at the Rockview Hotel, Abuja, recently.

Stakeholders have been advised to push for the establishment of a National Policy on Tourism to strategically build a fulcrum for the development and promotion of a sustainable tourism sector that will grow the Nigerian economy.

The keynote speaker, Professor Michael Ikupolati, who delivered a paper on ‘Budgeting and Funding: Effective Tools for Sustainable Tourism at the just-concluded Nigeria Tourism Investors Forum and Exhibition (NTIFE) disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday.

Prof Ikupolati explained that for tourism to drive the economy, there must be strategic planning of the tourism industry in Nigeria in a way that there will be a development of priorities based on strategies for planning developing and marketing of Nigeria as tourist destination.

He said the strategic plan must include the 7Ps of Tourism, which include product, price, place promotion, process, physical evidence, people, adding that improvement in security situation in and the creation of an enabling environment for rapid growth and development of tourism in Nigeria, government policies specifically targeted to tourism development in Nigeria.

To make this practical bid a worthwhile, Prof Ikupolati said “Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN), must set up a Tourism Action Plan Committee for engaging, empowering and enabling tourism stakeholders in Nigeria toward reinventing the wheels of tourism development in Nigeria.

According to him “The Committee will develop a framework for tourism development through effective budgeting and funding of tourism activities and templates for tourism stakeholders in Nigeria as well as develop a capacity building template for tourism budgeting and funding.”

He identifies budgeting and funding as one of the most important financial habits the industry can adopt, to improve it currently dismay performance, adding that it will help the industry to achieve their financial goals, keeping the industry from getting financially overwhelmed, and even helping them avoid or get out of debt.

Ikupolati re-emphasized that culture and tourism can contribute significantly to the economic development of Nigeria if government can provide platform and enabling environment for the promotion and development of culture and tourism in Nigeria. Also building collaboration with the private sector (PPP arrangements) to promote culture and tourism in Nigeria government should therefore increase funding to tourism agencies and rejig their operations, so as to increase their contributions to national development.

“Nigeria has a great potential in the tourism sector and the time to take positive steps in the right direction is now. All of the above can only be done if we good leaders in Government and in the various organizations operating within the Culture and Tourism sector of the Nigerian economy.”