• Stakeholders Move To Review Tourism Policy The Thematic Lead, Tourism and Hospitality Industries, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Ngozi Ngoka, has said that tourism is the bedrock of all economic activities, as a lot of countries survived through tourism after major crisis, be it the COVID-19 pandemic, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), etc. Ngoka said this during the Review of the National Tourism Policy of Nigeria Stakeholders’ Validation Session held in Lagos recently. Speaking at the event attended by dignitaries, such as the Minister of Arts, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa; former Minister of Tourism, Lola Ade-John, among other stakeholders and resource persons, Ngoka noted that every time there is a major crisis, countries would rely on tourism to revive their economies.
She said: “South Africa is an example; during apartheid, South Africa managed its domestic tourism. By the time apartheid ended, tourism became a big market for them. So that is what we want to align with and achieve in this National Tourism Policy.
We want to establish tourism as a business, as a big economic booster for the country. “A big part of the tourism policy is to develop domestic tourism in Nigeria as a lot of the countries that have tourism as a major contribution to their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) started from their local tourism products. There are so many countries that rely on tourism as their GDP.
So, if we develop our domestic tourism in Ni.