Goge Africa, a tourism and cultural media brand, on Sunday congratulated the new tourism Minister, Ms Lola Ade-John, on her appointment with an advice to focus on infrastructure development.
Its Managing Director, Nneka Isaac-Moses in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) urged Ade-John to prioritise building tourism infrastructures to position the industry to be more competitive.
Isaac-Moses said the infrastructure should include building new roads, airports, hotels as well as fixing the existing roads leading to most tourism sites which were in deplorable state.
She also urged the minister to consider working in partnership with the private sector and stakeholders to further advance the industry.
She said the industry was such with great potentials but currently facing a number of challenges like lack of infrastructure, investment and lack of awareness of Nigeria’s tourism potential.
“I will advise the minister to focus on developing tourism infrastructure; this includes building new roads, airports, and hotels. It also includes improving the quality of existing infrastructure.
“She also has to consider partnership with the private sector and work with the industry stakeholders.
“The new Ministry of Tourism will need to address these challenges to make the industry more competitive and become a major economic driver,” she said.
According to Isaac-Moses, the minister should deliberately invest in tourism marketing and promotion.
She said this includes creating a national tourism brand, developing marketing campaigns, and promoting Nigeria at international tourism trade shows.
“Also, she needs to work on raising awareness of Nigeria’s tourism potentials.
“This can be done through public relations campaigns, educational programmes and social media,” she said.
Isaac-Moses lauded President Bola Tinubu for establishing a stand-alone Ministry of Tourism.
“The separation of the tourism sector from information will allow each ministry to focus on their specific needs and priorities. “It will also help to create a more streamlined and efficient government structure,” she said.