HARNESSING THE CREATIVE TOURISM POTENTIALS OF CULTURE RICH DESTINATIONS
(Posted 30th September 2019)
The third edition of Nigeria Travel Week brings together aviation professionals, travel consultants, tour operators, hoteliers, restaurateurs, curators, travel tech and other tourism stakeholders to discuss trends and solutions for growth for the tourism industry in Nigeria and Africa.
The Nigeria Travel Week is a result of a strategic partnership between the different major public and private sector stakeholders in the Nigerian tourism space including the NTDC, NANTA, and SKAL International Lagos. The goal is a truly world class event to drive the change for a new narrative for domestic and inbound tourism in Nigeria.
This year’s edition focuses on the huge opportunities that abound in a culturally rich and diverse country like Nigeria through creative tourism. Creative tourism is a growing trend of “Tourism which offers visitors the opportunity to develop their creative potential through active participation in courses and learning experiences, which are characteristic of the holiday destination where they are taken.”
The advantage of creative tourism over the traditional cultural tourism is that tourist have a stronger attachment to the destination as the experiences are more immersive and experiential.
The Nigeria Travel Week will also provide a platform for stakeholders of the tourism industry to meet with the Director General of Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation, Mr Folorunsho Folarin-Coker, who will seek to deepen the level of collaboration within the industry. According to Efetobo Awhana, founder of Nigeria Travel Week, “the imperative of promoting tourism is underscored by the dwindling fortunes of oil and the increased adoption of fossil fuels by several nations. Other oil-rich nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar are turning to tourism to reduce the reliance on oil and Nigeria cannot be left behind to avoid the ‘Venezuela situation.’”
The Travel Roundtable program includes sessions with speakers and panelists who are renown in the industry including Amb. Wanle Akinboboye of La Campagne Tropicana, Prof. Wolfgang Thome of ATC News, Jermaine Sanwo-Olu, SSA to the Lagos State Governor on Diaspora and Foreign Relations, Dr. Adun Okupe of Red Clay Advisory amongst others.
The climax of the Nigeria Travel Week will be the Nigeria Tourism Awards also known as the Balearica Awards which honour outstanding tourism stakeholders over the last 12 months.
The Balearica is named and designed after the Crowned Crane. The Black Crowned Crane was proposed to be the national bird of Nigeria around 1985, even though it is not very clear how and why it was changed to the eagle. Countries have national animals and plants as symbols for tourism promotion.
The statuette is a 24ct gold plated aluminium with a solid black acrylic base. The awards are vetted by Phillips Consulting for quality and integrity purposes. Some of the past winners of the awards include the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi who won the Royal Support for Tourism Award; Eko Hotel won Best Hotel, Ibom Golf Resort Uyo won Best Resort while Terra Kulture won the award for Best Restaurant.
One of the highlights for this year is the Tourism Hangout which will be hosted by the President of Motherland Beckons, Amb. Wanle Akinboboye, at the exquisite La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort. The Tourism Hangout is a social mixer event in a fun atmosphere with lots of games and activities which La Campagne guarantees.
All events will take place at various locations in Lagos. Attendance is free for the public except the Nigeria Tourism Awards which is strictly by invitation due to the limited spaces available and overnight packages for the Tourism Hangout.
Pre-registration for Nigeria Travel Week is through the official website: nigeriatravelweek.com and via Eventbrite.
Social Media Sites:
Official Website: http://www.nigeriatravelweek.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NigeriaTravelWeek
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NgTravelWeek
Instagram: https://instagram.com/NigeriaTravelWeek
