Allocate more Resources to Hospitality, Tourism Industry, FG Urged

By Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

The federal government has been urged to allocate more resources to the country’s hospitality and tourism industry for improved service delivery.

This was contained in a communique issued at the end of the first National Conference on Tourism and Hospitality organised by the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, North-east campus Bauchi, in collaboration with the Departments of Leisure, Tourism and Hospitality Management of the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi held at M. L. Audu Auditorium of the Polytechnic weekend.

According to the communique, there is the need for polytechnics and universities running hospitality and tourism programmes to be well funded for practical-based pedagogy.

It also stressed the need for active participation of private individuals and companies in mobilising resources to facilitate academic and research activities in polytechnics and universities offering tourism-related courses especially at postgraduate levels.

The communique called for attitudinal change and orientation of hospitality and tourism service providers in the way they will treat their employees in terms of working conditions.

It called for concerted efforts by government with the support of other stakeholders to address the increasing incidence of criminalities and violence across the country especially in tourism-rich states.

The communique therefore identified some of the challenges affecting the development of tourism and hospitality industry in the country to include lack of political will, inadequate funding for the sector, enabling environment and inadequate facilities in training institutions.