The Director General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, (NIHOTOUR), Alhaji Nura Sani Kangiwa, said the zeal with which teachers and students of tourism accepted the introduction of the subject in the curriculum of secondary schools is a good omen for the future of tourism in the country.
Kangiwa, who stated this while declaring open a Train the Trainer program for teachers of tourism in Kano State organised by the Institute in collaboration with Masarrah Travels and Tours, said tourism remains one of the world’s biggest employers of labour and a substantial contributor to the GDP of most countries.
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He said given the government’s renewed interest to diversify the economy and tourism as one of the considered sectors for diversification, there was no better time than now to groom the youth into taking interest in tourism as a professional course of studies, as well as to urge them to venture into the sector as key players on self-employment basis.
Kangiwa said with the present spate of youth unemployment resulting into youth restiveness, tourism as a service industry has the capacity to offer employment opportunities to our teeming youths, stimulate Nigeria’s economic growth, generate foreign exchange and contribute to domestic earnings.
Also speaking at the occasion, Alhaji Mohammed Adam, Managing Director of Masarrah Travels and Tours, applauded the training exercise as a way of publicizing tourism as both a skill entrepreneur and a revenue generation venture for the country.
He said his Company resolved to collaborate with NIHOTOUR in organizing the Train the Training program in Kano in the spirit of public private partnership which is needed to grow the industry.
Participants at the Train the Trainer program, who were drawn from selected secondary schools in the state, expressed their delight with the training as, according to them, they will be better equipped to teach tourism as a subject and impact on their students better knowledge and skills of the subject.
