Stage set for tourism’s significant growth amid a troubled economy, By Shoks Mnisi Mzolo

Let it be noted that the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) estimates that about 40 per cent of tourists cite culture as their motivation for travelling. Nigeria, with a nearly 220 million strong population, bristles with arts and culture. We are not even going to talk about the world of film or literature. A slice of the streets of Lagos, Kaduna, Ibadan, Abuja and elsewhere replays in Garoua, Harare, Ibiza, Jo’burg, Kampala, London, Mumbai, New York, all the way to São Paulo, Toronto and further afield.

Now that Nigeria finally has a dedicated ministry, what is to stop the travel and tourism industry from growing leaps and bounds on the back of the country’s beauty, heritage and culture galore? The stage is set for the nation to welcome millions of visitors to Destination Nigeria, while creating jobs and extricating millions from dire poverty levels.

Nigeria will mark this year’s World Tourism Day with a happy, expecting bounce in its step. The reasons are too many, not the least that tourism has a newly-minted standalone ministry in President Bola Tinubu’s federal cabinet. His reconfigured cabinet saw, among other changes, the long anticipated end of the co-habitation of tourism and government propaganda in one ministry. The reconfiguration has brought in Lola Ade-John, a corporate grandee, as the Minister of Tourism. Given her credentials, she is well placed to steer tourism to reignite the struggling economy through bringing the world to these shores to sample Nigeria’s beauty, heritage and culture galore.

Crystal-ball gazers expect the sector will double the number of jobs it sustains, to exceed five million by 2032, and for tourism to grow its contribution to the GDP. The World Travel and Tourism Council pegs the sector’s growth at an average rate of 5.4 per cent per year, hence “significantly outpacing the 3 (per cent) growth rate of the overall economy”. To be fair, what is to stop the sector from sustainably quadrupling its contribution to the national economy and supporting 10 million jobs? Also, what is to stop the country – which lists Sukur Cultural Landscape and Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove as its only UNESCO designated World Heritage Sites – from at least equaling Africa’s leading markets?

Let it be noted that the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) estimates that about 40 per cent of tourists cite culture as their motivation for travelling. Nigeria, with a nearly 220 million strong population, bristles with arts and culture. We are not even going to talk about the world of film or literature. A slice of the streets of Lagos, Kaduna, Ibadan, Abuja and elsewhere replays in Garoua, Harare, Ibiza, Jo’burg, Kampala, London, Mumbai, New York, all the way to São Paulo, Toronto and further afield. Their clubs and airwaves offer music lovers some Chuku chuku and a bit of Wuru wuru. More fresh beats are available all over. Old musical talents – Dr Alban, Alhaja Queen Salawa Abeni, Fela Kuti and many others – left an enduring legacy that can, like today’s music, be packaged to galvanise tourism. The same goes for places of interest and so on.

Back to the upside, having the Emiratis and the Ugandans joining or rejoining the rest of the airlines that operate in Nigeria will spur tourism – a sector that has the potential to contribute at least 10 per cent of the GDP and employ millions, or support a tenth of the workforce. Job-creation is urgent to cushion the sudden removal of fuel subsidies, a factor that exacerbates the sky-high cost of living and “is leaving millions of Nigerians in poverty,” says the World Bank.

This is where Ms Ade-John comes in. Her experience spans “leveraging and managing technology to drive strategic business results,” writes Premium Times. Her journey features examples of IT innovation in banking and her arrival in civil service is well-timed, and the fraternity is already singing her praises. The protracted, ego-filled soap opera of tiffs and flight schedules, discriminatory COVID-19 tests and visa bans has, though belatedly, ended – just weeks before World Tourism Day on 27^th September. The story featured, as protagonists, the governments of Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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The costly soapie took its toll on travelers, flattened their purses, and had an adverse impact on trade and tourism in both countries, to varying degrees, even as they – like the rest of the globe – were still smarting from the effects of COVID-19 that took scores of lives and left battered economies in its wake. However, tourism has recovered in most regions.

Now, as reported on Monday after Tinubu’s meeting with his Emirati counterpart, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE has – after a year of negotiating or muscle-flexing – lifted its travel ban on Nigerian travelers. Further, Emirates and Etihad Airways will resume their flight schedules into and out of Nigeria at an unstated date. Coincidentally, the UAE deal comes on the heels of Uganda Airline’s announcement of its inaugural flight from Entebbe, Uganda, to Lagos on 19^th October. Things are looking rosy, if you ignore the zigging and zagging soapie: Nigeria Air. Paraded to the world back in July 2018, the airline crawled from the cradle, in May this year, only to be almost instantly yanked by limbo. This July, it was put under suspension when Festus Keyamo began his shift as the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development. So, what’s been flying and wagging back and forth are fingers of accusations. Regardless of who’s in the ring and why or who’s right, the imbroglio hurts Destination Nigeria.

Back to the upside, having the Emiratis and the Ugandans joining or rejoining the rest of the airlines that operate in Nigeria will spur tourism – a sector that has the potential to contribute at least 10 per cent of the GDP and employ millions, or support a tenth of the workforce. Job-creation is urgent to cushion the sudden removal of fuel subsidies, a factor that exacerbates the sky-high cost of living and “is leaving millions of Nigerians in poverty,” says the World Bank. At last count, the institution estimated that almost a third of the population lives below the poverty line.

…a question that’s easy to forget in economies without standalone ministries, is: What discerns one destination from the next? Put differently, why do people go to Thailand, or to France? These are some of the things that the fraternity, not forgetting the newish ministry, must perfect or introduce strategically to catapult Destination Nigeria. It is urgent. Ideas and answers to buoy the industry have been streaming from before the ministry came into being.

While tourism here was over-reliant on domestic travelers, who in 2019 spent US$10.4 billion (or a hefty 87 per cent of the total), domestic travelers are decreasing by the day and their contributions likewise. In the three years to 2019, the country hosted nearly six million international tourist arrivals (in the league of Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya but ahead of Ethiopia). Traffic to Morocco and South Africa is, respectively, six and five times larger than Nigeria’s. The number of arrivals, and the $1.6 billion they inject into the Nigerian economy, is puny when contrasted to those two African nations. Now that there’s a dedicated ministry, we expect huge improvements to the nearly two million arrivals and the $1.6 billion they add to the economy. Given that the UNWTO lists air connectivity among key points for economies to unlock benefits, it is fair to suggest that half the battle has been won but that requires consistent slugging.

Added to air connectivity, visa openness is another cog, according to the UNWTO. Nigeria should recalibrate its visa regime and migration processes to grow its numbers of visitors coming from beyond West Africa. The curiously low-hanging fruit would be to attract visitors from neighbouring states, especially as many African nationalities are already either visa exempted or they get visas on arrival in Nigeria. This is an example of the reason why easing visa restrictions can encourage inbound traffic, although it won’t automatically bring in tourists. For instance, Nigeria’s visa regime is less open than Ethiopia’s. However, Ethiopia underperforms Nigeria. That’s despite the former having the public relations mileage deriving from its carrier, and numerous heritage sites. Further to the foregoing, with the exception of Thailand and Türkiye, countries in the Top 10 of international tourist arrivals have rigid visa regimes. Consider that the list, topped by France (at 90 million), is dominated by Schengen nations. The winning formula, which ought to capitalise on the regional market, takes a lot more than visa openness and a flag carrier. A well-built, graded and fairly regulated tourism industry (to maintain global standards), replete with human capital, backed by infrastructure and supportive government, is even more important.

In contrast, a question that’s easy to forget in economies without standalone ministries, is: What discerns one destination from the next? Put differently, why do people go to Thailand, or to France? These are some of the things that the fraternity, not forgetting the newish ministry, must perfect or introduce strategically to catapult Destination Nigeria. It is urgent. Ideas and answers to buoy the industry have been streaming from before the ministry came into being. Unsurprisingly, arts and culture dominate the discourse.

“The fortunes of tourism and culture are closely linked. When one thrives, the other does too,” remarked UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili at the organisation’s Global Conference on Linking Tourism, Culture and Creative Industries. Tellingly that inaugural event, held last year, was hosted by Lagos – home to Afrobeats, and a bustling and melting pot of tourism, culture and creative industries. With that, and while identifying other culture and creative mega events to host, the sector will benefit from strong ties between Ms. Ade-John’s team and their counterparts at the Hannatu Musawa-led Ministry of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy. The economy will look to tourism to breathe life into it in these trying times. The world is ready to sample more of Nigeria. The stage is set.

Shoks Mnisi Mzolo is a roving storyteller with a background in arts & culture and financial journalism. He also works as an independent researcher and is an avid traveler.