The Director General of the National Council for Art and Culture, Otunba Segun Runsewe has advised media reporters in the tourism sector to constantly seek to set agenda for the growth of Nigerian tourism by ensuring that communication gap in the sector is reduced to the bearest minimum.

Runsewe said Journalists must continue to put in the front burner of national discourse, issues relating to the prevailing global best practices in tourism, inform and mobilize all stakeholders to take the required step in adopting the right approach towards building a dynamic tourism sector for Nigeria.

In his paper presented on Friday at the opening ceremony of National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, NIHOTOUR’s training programme for the Association of Nigerian Tourism Writers, ANJET, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, titled Tourism Communication: Bridging the Public and Private Sector Communication Gap, Runsewe stressed the need for effective communication especially in a complex system like the tourism industry made up of heterogeneous network of people, systems and interests.

The NCAC DG noted that effective communication is desirable if all who have a stake in the sector can understand one another, work together in synergy and commit their knowledge and creative energies to the process of collectively charting a unified course for the growth of the industry.

Runsewe observed that even in the smallest unit of the nuclear family, effective communication is inevitable for building a healthy and happy home.

In a complex system like the tourism industry made up of heterogeneous network of people, systems and interests, effective communication is desirable if all who have a stake in the sector can understand one another, work together in synergy and commit their knowledge and creative energies to the process of collectively charting a unified course for the growth of the industry, Runsewe said.

He explained that “Journalists are a formidable agents of social change. Therefore, AJET, as agents of development communication, should lead the campaign to influence public opinion that would lead to the change necessary to enhance communication and healthy institutional partnership necessary for sustainable growth”.

He continued that: “As a competitive business, tourism relies heavily on marketing and promotion. Our tourism journalists should make Destination Marketing a part of their goal, in development reportage for the purpose of sustainable tourism growth. By destination marketing, I mean the identification and promotion of specific locations where tourism resources are available.
While promoting Nigeria as a destination to the tourism world, AJET and other relevant Media Professionals should work with stakeholders to identify and promote destinations in Nigeria that have the resources to attract the attention of tourists. It is in this regard that the National Council for Arts and Culture, recently focused attention on NIKE Arts Gallery, Abuja, for the purpose of destination marketing. So many of such destination are abound in Nigeria”.

NCAC boss noted that the global trend now is the segmentation of national tourism resources into clutters in order to market them on the basis of their comparative advantage, using the MICE approach – Meeting, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions.

“For example, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja are rich destinations in conference tourism, among others. Aggressive marketing of these destinations could make other African countries see Nigeria as a preferred place for International Meetings and Conferences such as AU and ECOWAS meetings, etc. This way, we shall be helping to promote Nigeria tourism resources and position our nation as a preferred destination to the global tourism world”, Runsewe explained.