Mrs Lola Ade-John, Minister of Tourism, has promised to support the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) in marketing Nigeria at the forthcoming edition of the World Travel Market (WTM).

This pledge was made when the NANTA team visited the minister’s office in Abuja, on Tuesday to solicit her support.
The WTM, known as the most famous tourism and travel trade exposition, is slated to hold in November in Excel, London.

In a statement, Ade-John expressed excitement about the selfless determination and commitment of NANTA to showcase Nigeria to the world.
She noted that the agencies deserved the support of all Nigerians, particularly the state governments.

Speaking on government’s intervention in marketing Nigeria as a choice tourism destination, the minister hinted that the ministries of culture and tourism had recently collaborated to approach all 36 state governments.

She said the aim of their collaboration was for the state governments to join the advocacy campaign to showcase Nigeria’s rich cultural tourism resources to the world.

“We are upbeat about supporting your association and look forward to being at the WTM.
“NANTA has shown capacity and technical knowhow to stay ahead of this noble gesture.
“And as government, the minister of culture and myself have met and agreed to support institutions such as yours to project this campaign.

“This is part of government’s intention to provide direction for the private sector to create jobs and gain knowledge of how to welcome and satisfy visitors to Nigeria,” she said.

The minister further explained that she needed the support of NANTA and the organised Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN) to turn around the nation’s tourism fortunes.

“By mid-September, we shall unveil the tourism policy, listen to the private sector’s operational ecosystem and discuss data and statistics ethos.

“This will help us plan, motivate, and inspire a reward ecosystem for private sector visibility and ownership of the sector.
“Our noble role is to offer guidance and assistance where necessary and ensure discipline so as to mobilise the informal sector and formal economy to improve our services, products and offerings.” she said.

The minister expressed concern at the extreme bickering and animosity among practitioners, saying it was distracting.

She added that these practices could ambush the progressive efforts made by both the public and private sectors, to have an organised bankable cultural tourism economy.

Ade-John, however, prayed for sanity and collaboration in the industry.

“I will work hard to enthrone harmony and togetherness. I don’t like to pull any official pressure.
“I would like to be out there, working than sitting down here and receiving visitors and talking.

We must work together, and I must confess that the media, even though critical of our activities, are veritable partners.

“We shall work with the Nigerian tourism media, this is not negotiable, but they must be patient with us,” she stated.

On visa issue, the minister said the issue was receiving attention from the interior minister, and very soon, the change will be visible.

She assured that Nigeria would return to winning ways soon, but urged all Nigerians to support government’s efforts to create an atmosphere that was acceptable and welcoming to both Nigerians and visitors.

“I believe in the power of our domestic tourism, getting Nigerians to love Nigeria, visit each other and appreciate our rich sociocultural diversity.

“NANTA is big and huge, and I am sure together, we can make Nigerian culture and tourism trade great and very attractive,” she said.

Speaking earlier, NANTA President, Mr. Yinka Folami, said NANTA was Nigerian cultural tourism-centric and would do its best to be good ambassadors of the country within and outside its shores.

Folami noted that the association had taken it upon itself to market and promote Nigeria at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London.

He said that this was a project the association had done successfully in the past two years, committing huge funds and energy.

“It is a heavy burden for us, but we felt we must help our country in times of need to help tell the stories of our rich cultural and historical diversities, and we have no regret doing it because we believe in the Nigeria Project.

“NANTA expects the government to support the drive to bring Nigerian cultural tourism to the market place of global tourism and travel business.

“We honestly received some encouragement from the Nigeria Tourism Development Authority (NTDA) and the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) in the past.

“But we want to have a bigger Nigerian project at WTM and we have done it successfully in the past two years.
“During that period, the Nigerian students community in the United Kingdom turned out to support our initiative.

We wish that government should be part of the marketing and promotion movement.
“This would help attract not only visitors traffic but also critical investment to the country.” he said.