Nigeria’s minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed announced a tripartite partnership involving the federal government, the United Nat
Nigeria’s minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed announced a tripartite partnership involving the federal government, the United Nation’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and Cable News Network (CNN) for tourism promotion.
The announcement comes days after popular CNN broadcaster, Richard Quest completed a visit to the Nigeria. Mr Quest met with the information minister, trade and investment minister, Mr Okechukwu Enelamah and a number of other top government officials while in Nigeria.
The new agreement between Nigeria, CNN and the UNWTO on tourism promotion hopes to explore the local movie industry, Nollywood, as a platform to showcase important places in Nigeria. The minister revealed the plan at the Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Association of Tour Operators (NATOP) in Lagos on Tuesday.
“As many of you are aware, Nigeria recently won the right to host the annual UNWTO CAF Meeting in Abuja in 2018. Yes, this is not the first time Nigeria will be hosting this meeting, but this time we must leverage on the meeting as a platform to promote Nigeria as a preferred tourism destination,” Mr Mohammed said.
The minister further urged the private sector to support the tourism industry by providing the necessary skills and competencies needed for growth and progress. The minister stressed that government had taken steps to improve Nigeria’s ranking on the Tourism Competitive Index of the World Travel and Tourism Council, through the efforts of the Presidential Council on the Ease of Doing Business.
According to him, the Council had completed, in 60 days, 31 reforms across its eight priority indicators in areas such as the Simplified Visa on Arrival Process, Infrastructural improvements at the Abuja Airport and the new Immigration Regulation 2017.
