Destination: Nigeria

MESSAGE BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
OF THE WORLD TOURISM ORGANIZATION

The rapid growth of the modern tourism industry which, in 2005
registered approximately 800 million international tourist arrivals worldwide, has
made the tourism industry one of the most important industries of the world,
particularly in economic terms. One of the most valuable characteristics of the
tourism industry is that while it has grown in numbers, it has also grown in
variety of destinations as there has been a continued geographical spread of
tourism to all parts of the world which has made it possible for many countries,
especially developing countries, to develop tourism as a viable engine for socioeconomic
development.

Essentially, tourism can have a profound impact on the society, economy
and environment of nations. Socially, one of the most immediate benefits of the
tourism industry is its ability to create employment and, in the case of tourism,
an added benefit is that it caters for both skilled and unskilled employment. As
a labour-intensive industry, tourism has the potential to create more jobs per
unit of investment than any other industry and tourism can be a useful source of
employment for women and ethnic minority groups. Environmentally, tourism,
when properly developed and managed, can serve as a mechanism for
protecting natural environments; preserving historical, archaeological and
religious monuments; and, stimulating the practice of local cultures, folklore,
traditions, arts and crafts, and cuisine. And, economically, tourism brings many
benefits to the Central Government, local authorities as well as the private
sector through the generation of foreign revenue, financial returns on
investment, taxation on tourists and tourist products, and, linkages to other local
industries such as agriculture and fisheries.

One of the most important challenges facing the modern world is the fight
against poverty and this is a battle that governments, agencies and institutions
have been fighting over decades. We in UNWTO are convinced that with its
enormous economic power and high potential for employment creation, its
capacity to spread its socio-economic benefits to all levels of society and to all
parts (including remote areas) of developing and least developed countries,
and, its sustained resiliency in times of crisis, tourism can be a leading sector in
the fight against poverty and, it is no surprise that many governments have
placed tourism on the top of their development agendas.

Nigeria is one of the leading countries in Africa in the fight against
poverty and plays an active role in UNWTO’s ST-EP programme (Sustainable
Tourism – Eliminating Poverty) – a programme which was launched in 2002 and
focuses on longstanding work to encourage sustainable tourism - social,
economic and ecological - which specifically alleviates poverty, bringing
development and jobs to people living on less than a dollar a day. Nigeria has
chaired the Working Group of the UNWTO Executive Council (the highest
policy-making organ of the Organization) which supervised the preparation of
the ST-EP initiative. Furthermore, Nigeria was recently elected as the
Chairman of the UNWTO Commission for Africa.

UNWTO applauds the initiative of the Government of Nigeria to actively
develop tourism as a means for improving the socio-economic conditions of the
Nigerian people and diversifying its economic base. However, the success of
Nigeria’s tourism industry depends on its sustainability.

That is why, UNWTO, at the request of the Government of Nigeria, and
through the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
executed this project for the formulation of a National Tourism Master Plan for
Nigeria which focuses on Institutional and Capacity Strengthening Support to
the Tourism Sector. The objective of this project is to promote the sustainable
development of the tourism industry through capacity building of the
Government (at the Federal level) in the areas of human resource development,
research development, improved sectoral planning and governance. The
project also provides capacity building at the local/State level in promoting
tourism development at the community level by encouraging local community
participation, ownership and management of the tourism sector.

The Master Plan has addressed a number of vital issues and provides
strategic recommendations in the areas of tourism policy, governance,
development of tourism products, marketing approach, international and
domestic transportation, hospitality education and training, tourism organization
and legislation, tourism management information systems, amongst other
issues.

Through the implementation of this Master Plan’s recommendations, it is
expected that the Government of Nigeria, through its Ministry of Culture and
Tourism, would be better equipped to develop and manage the tourism industry
so as to enhance the economic benefits of tourism through sustainable, peopleoriented
development policies which would spread the benefits of tourism to all
parts of the country and all layers of society, thereby greatly contributing to the
eradication of poverty and the upliftment of Nigeria and its people.

Francesco Frangialli