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Nigeria focusing on development of domestic tourism: minister

Xinhua, May 2, 2017 Adjust font size:

Nigeria is focusing on the development of domestic tourism while putting in place the right infrastructure to attract foreign tourists, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said Tuesday.

The minister said this while speaking at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigeria Association of Tour Operators (NATOP) in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub.

He said domestic tourism was not fully explored in view of its enormous potential to the economy of the country.

Mohammed said the government was giving those areas such as entertainment and fashion in which the country had comparative advantage over some other countries, priority attentions in its tourism development agenda.

The minister, while highlighting some of the steps being taken by government to develop the sector, said the Presidential Council on Tourism was being revived.

He said the resuscitation of the committee would engender the rapid development of the sector through policy directions and other enablement.

The official told his audience that the issuance of tourist visas was being simplified and issuance time reduced to 48 hours to attract foreign tourists.

According to him, the government was irrevocably committed to the development of the tourism sector, noting that it was mustering the right political will and taking some result-oriented steps to develop and re-position the sector.

Mohammed described tourism as "the oil that never dries", saying that the government would harness the potential of the sector to boost the revenue profit of the country.

The minister added that a committee to implement the tourism road-map had been set up and that a task force on creative economy had been put in place.

Mohammed said the government had designed a festival calendar for the country to stimulate internal tourism and attract foreign tourists.

The minister, however, said the government could not develop tourism alone. He appealed for the partnership of private sector and other stakeholders. Endit