14 April 2004
Lagos — POOR destination promotion and dearth of positive information about Nigeria have been identified as some of the major problems militating against the country's emergence as one of words's most preferred tourism destination.
This was disclosed by delegates from the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) on a pilot programme for the Africa Commission of the tourism body for tourists' security and safety during their meeting last week in Ikeja, Lagos with tourism stakeholders.
The delegates, Almudena Amones and Carolina Goya noted that they were discouraged from visiting the country by many people in Europe who believed that the country's level of security was poor, adding that the negative information they got from the internet about Nigeria also heightened their apprehension eventhough they were not initially frightened.
While revealing that they have been enjoying their stay in the country, the delegates advised tourism authorities in the country to step up their promotion of Nigeria as a tourist destination by inundating the internet with positive information about the country and by making available information on brochures which should be distributed to Nigerian High Commissions abroad.
The delegates who had earlier visited Senegal noted that other countries in the pilot programme included, Senegal and Seychelles, adding that the report of their fact-finding mission would be discussed next month in Seychelles.
In his speech, the chairman technical committee on tourism masterplan, Dr. Franklin Adejuwon noted that Nigeria is a beautiful country with intelligent people, adding that the western world sees Nigeria as a threat to their economy hence the portrayal of the country in bad light.
According to him, Nigeria is a country with the world's largest concentration of blacks in the world, with citizens holding key positions in diverse countries of the world, was bound to be perceived as a threat.
He urged the delegates to help in improving Nigeria's image by giving an objective report of their experience in the country. He however, told them not to expect much at this stage from Nigeria as regards tourism as the country is still at its infancy stage in the sector.
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