Amachree Urges FG to Assist in Tourism Industry Recovery

Vanessa Obioha

A former President of Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (ATPN) Chief Mike Amachree has called on all tiers of government in the country to begin the process of restarting tourism industry after the lockdown of the industry for more than a year as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic that brought travel and tourism i to a halt.

Amachree who is recognised as the father of tourism in Nigeria and a member of Vision 2010 during General Sanni Abacha’s military administration, advised that the Federal Government, states and local governments should liaise with the private sector tourism industry practitioners through the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) on how to provide help to industry practitioners.

“As everybody knows, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the travel and tourism industry more than any other sector. Although the process of recovery has already begun, many industry practitioners are finding it difficult recovering from their losses. This is where the government ought to come in like we saw in many other countries.”

He advised that tour operators who promote domestic tourism should be encouraged with financial incentives to rebuild their business.

“When they start creating and selling tour packages to tourist sites in the country, their visits would improve the local economy of these places where the sites are located. With encouragement from the government, they will see that tourism makes more money than any other sector.”

Amachree also said it was also time for Nigeria to take advantage of international tourism fairs that have now resumed physical expos and exhibitions to promote the country.

“In order to rebuild the Nigerian tourism industry, Nigeria should also start participating in some of these international fairs to tell the world that the country is ready and that as a destination, the country has tourism products that could excite tourist visitors.”

Furthermore, he posited that the government should not wait for the industry to recover on its own but rather be proactive by stimulating the recovery process through these injections of funds to the industry and assisting the industry practitioners to fully recover as this will help to improve the economy of the country.