17th July, 2017
Alhaji Saleh Rabo, the President of Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), says marketing and promotion of Nigeria’s tourist destinations are key to the diversification of the economy.
Rabo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja that FTAN was poised to take measures that would contribute to the effective development of the sector.
He said the association would conduct a research to ascertain the needs and buying patterns of the country’s tourism market across the travel seasons.
“Based on the research findings, we will embark on massive, but surgical marketing and promotion of individual destinations suiting the market demography in the country.
“Therefore, our sales-oriented promotion of tourist destinations in the country for both domestic and inbound markets will go hand-in-hand with destination facilities standard.
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“We have already initiated moves to secure expertise and technical support from international organisations to enrich tourist experience by tailoring hospitality to meet the preference of the identified market segment,” Rabo said.
The FTAN president decried the dearth of data about tourism services and market pattern in the country, adding that there was no data to evidently show the impact of tourism revenues on the economy.
He said that FTAN would partner with multinational organisations and National Bureau of Statistics to set up structures to collate data on tourists at the leading destinations in the country.
“Our plans are not only for FTAN, but more about unleashing the association’s capacity to jump start domestic and inbound tourism industry in Nigeria.
“We will also reach out to government ministries, particularly those of aviation and transport to facilitate the repatriation of relevant taxes for tourism development,” Rabo said.
