Lagos — It is no longer news that the recent Commonwealth Tourism Ministers meeting in Abuja was powered by Nigeria's Business Support Group (BSG) which organised a Commonwealth Tourism Business Forum held at the same time as the ministers meeting.

But the promoters need incentives to continue to function because tourism is a novel area where investors need to be encouraged through the provision of tax relief and moratorium.

People are getting aware that the Federal Government has re-entered the market as it is a season for tourism. It will wet peoples appetite.

Government's support to tourism and promotion initiatives no doubt was beginning to invite private sector's attention to the industry, hence the involvement of organisations in the BSG.

Business personalities from banks, airlines and a number of tourism- related organisations while deliberating on a variety of issues in tourism, said it is good they are in the market.

But, a lot of them wondered aloud the reason why no policy statement was made during the historic event. For instance, the speech by President Olusegun Obasanjo who declared the week-long event open did not answer the tourism question.

Generally, delegates asked questions like "What incentive is the Federal Government giving investors in tourism?"

'We have discovered this niche and we are trying to help in developing the sector to reposition it as an alternative to the oil sector," says Emeka Onwuka, Head, Commercial Banking of Diamond Bank.

" We have done a good number of transactions in transportation, in funding hotels and so on. What we are now seeking is not just funding infrastructure and logistics for tourism but actually funding the development of tourism sites."

Thus, with this specific target, the bank sought to encourage people with financial assistance, that's "people who could come up with very good model to invest on tourism sites."

Onwuka whose company sponsored a dinner for delegates during the meeting pledged Diamond Bank's commitment to tourism growth, pointing out the need for government to look at the area of fiscal incentives that would encourage investment in tourism.

" Tax incentive could be extended to financial institutions that fund those transactions in the sector. This is because if they have tax incentive, it means that their returns on such transactions are higher than normal returns because of the incentives attached to such transactions," he said.

He stated that Diamond Bank is very much interested in funding the tourism sub-sector even though the banking sector in the past had not done so much for tourism in the area of adequate funding.

According to him, "Diamond Bank could see ahead and say that tourism actually presents a world of opportunities for growth in business and also presents opportunities for banking business as well. So, that is why Diamond Bank is interested in tourism development in the country."

Moreover, the bank is aware about the fact that when the tourism industry is managed well, it could create jobs and generate revenue for the country to fund other sectors.

"Tourism all over the world is a major contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP) of various countries, thus creating opportunities for self actualization and revenue generation. Sadly the rate of growth in South Africa , for instance, is higher than that of Nigeria," Onwuka noted.

Diamond Bank, he said, is very much interested in funding the sector because it has discovered that there are countless opportunities available in it.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is said to have approached the Chairman of BSG, Mr. Paschal Dozie to help mobilize the private sector to support the Commonwealth meeting. That explains why companies had sponsored and participated at the seminar and Travel Mart to assist the Ministry of Culture and Tourism during the Second Commonwealth Ministers Meeting.

The first meeting was hosted by Malaysia.