The Director General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, NIHOTOUR, Alhaji Nura Sani Kangiwa has called for close collaboration and synergy between government and the private sector within a sustainable framework to grow the industry.
The call came in the wake of Nigeria joining the global community to celebrate the 2020 World Tourism Day with the theme: Tourism and Rural Development.
The World Tourism Day, which is celebrated on September, 27 of every year globally, offers opportunity for stakeholders to come up with strategic framework that can deepen the opportunities in the tourism industry by addressing the challenges inherent in its multi-sectorial operations.
Alhaji Nura Kangiwa noted that NIHOTOUR is celebrating this year’s world Tourism Day in collaboration with the Lagos State Chapter of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) and TARZAN Boats as a symbol of the cordial relationship between the organized private sector and the Institute in manpower and capacity building of professional practice in the hospitality and travel-tourism industry of the country.
He noted further that it is by having close and healthy working relationship with operators in the industry that NIHOTOUR can design and streamline its course programs to suit the industry needs for efficient and effective service delivery that will command customer satisfaction and continuous patronage.
The Director General said the theme of this year’s celebration was apt and in line with the desire of the federal government to open up the rural areas for enhanced national growth and development via the diversification of the economy that includes the tourism industry, adding that based on its mandate, NIHOTOUR as a training Institute will play its part for the evolution of knowledge-based and informed professional conducts in the service industry that tourism and hospitality are.
He then called on stakeholders to encourage and sponsor their staff for training and re-training so as to be abreast with global trends and practices in the industry for better service delivery that meets international standards and best practices, noting that tourism is a social, cultural and economic activity which if properly harnessed can develop the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy as veritable source of revenue in view of the drastic shortfall in oil revenue in recent times.