The National Vice President of the Institute of Tourism Professional of Nigeria (ITPN), Alhaji Abdulhamid Sherif, has said some Nigerians at the grassroots level who were the main custodians of tourism potential in the country have exhibited ignorance of those potentials.
He urged local government administrators to work on educating Nigerians at the grassroots on the potentials of tourism.
He made the call at the two-day Lagos Tourism Roundtable, organised by the ITPN in Lagos.
The theme for the programme is “Lagos Tourism: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”, with the sub-theme, “The Role of Local Government in Tourism Development in Lagos”.
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He, however, said that those at the grassroots need to be educated on the need to preserve the potential and further invest in it for wealth creation.
Also, Mrs Fatimah Sule, Deputy Director, of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), urged the local government across the country to work on maintaining the existing tourism sites within their communities.
She said for remarkable improvement in the industry, tourism practitioners must consciously make efforts to be digitally and information technology compliant.
According to her, this will put practitioners at vantage positions to create wealth and be successful in developing the industry.
Mr Albert Opara, Tourism and Transport Product Manager, Sterling Bank, said the local government needs to be guided on the economic benefits of tourism to be able to harness the potentials.
He advised the youths and tourism practitioners to be involved in politics to be able to influence the implementation of favourable policies for industry’s growth. (NAN)
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