Tourism Operator, Amachree Lauds Buhari for Visiting UNWTO
Justina Uzo
The National President, Centre for Promotion of Peace, Tourism and Culture (CEPTAC), Chief Mike Amachree has praised President Muhammadu Buhari for his recent visit to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) headquarters in Madrid, Spain.
Counting the gains of the visit, he said it would give the tourism industry in the country a boost, pointing out that the visit must have concretised federal government’s plans to host the first ever Global Conference on Culture, Tourism and Creative Industry in Lagos.
Amachree, regarded as ‘Father of Nigeria Tourism’ urged the federal government to carry the tourism industry operators and other stakeholders along in the planning and organization of the conference.
President Buhari had visited the UNWTO headquarters recently to thank the United Nations agency for granting Nigeria hosting rights of the conference.
Moreover, he said the visit might have given Buhari a better understanding of the business of tourism and its importance to any country’s economy.
The first Global Conference on Culture, Tourism and Creative Industry, he said, is a move in the right direction as the conference would help beam the searchlight on Nigeria tourism, culture and the viable creative industry.
It is expected that during the festival, Nigeria would use the opportunity to showcase its vast tourism offerings to the world. It is perhaps this reason the hotelier advised all the states in the federation to use the opportunity to showcase their tourism assets.
Amachree adds: “Our country is blessed with vast tourism assets to showcase to the world,” he said. In the North-east, we have the Yankari Game Reserve and the Tarfawa Balewa Mausoleum. In the North-central, we have the Plateau rock formations and Farin Ruwa Waterfall in Nasarawa. In the North-west, we have the Kano Durbar, the great Kano Wall, the Emir’s Palace, and many others.
“In the South-west, we have cultural festivals like the Osun Osogbo, the Ojude Oba festival of Ijebu people, the Badagry slave relics, the Ikogosi warm spring, the Erin Ijesa waterfall and many more. In the South-east, the Ogbunike Cave, the Ibini Ukpabi slave trade shrine in Arochukwu and in the South-south, we have the Benin bronze casters, Nana of Itsekiri palace, the Brooklyn Tourist Museum, the recently built Port Harcourt Pleasure Park by Governor Nyesom Wike and many others.”
The UNWTO first-ever Global Conference on Tourism, Culture and Creative Industry will be held at the newly refurbished National Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos.
