Nigeria hosts 4th tourism/transport summit in Abuja

The Federal Government has said the 4th National Transportation Tourism Summit and Expo would hold in Abuja in a fortnight

National President, Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN), Chief Abiodun Odusanwo, said in Abuja in a statement that summit would be held in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Federal Ministry of Transportation and Federal Ministry of Aviation.

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“This is an annual event that focused attention on the inter-play and connectivity between tourism and transportation as well as to x-ray how comprehensibly the various stakeholders and key players in the two industries at both public and private sector levels have fared in exploring the opportunities and benefits in synergizing them,” Odusanwo said.

He said the theme of the expo is: ‘Tourism Transportation Connectivity: Leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Regime for Economic Sustainability’.

“This is derived from the AfCFTA trade agreement which is a common market to grow trade in ‘made-in-Africa’ goods and services by reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade among African countries,” he said.

He also said that the AfCFTA is a common market for 54 African countries with a population of 1.2bn people which has a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over $3.4trn.

“It is huge market opportunity that cannot be ignored or wished away. The summit and expo offer a platform for public and private sector stakeholders, producers and consumers in Nigeria and the African Continent to come together, share ideas, experiences, exchange knowledge and showcase their skills in the growth, development and promotion of the nation’s economic endowments by promoting the ideals of the AfCFTA Agreements and leveraging on it.

“Nigeria’s participation in this year’s event is essentially to get more enlightened and informed on the nitty gritty of the AfCFTA agreements so that the country can fully explored the opportunities and benefits of the trade agreements,” he said.