portage:

@Popekay, Phemmie, Yamakuza, iice and N1O1,

Great Input from you guys. It is my sincere hope that we can really develop this industry and i stated earlier i think the real issue has to do with leadership. If you go on you tube  and listen to what the MD of Tinapa has to say about this free trade zone for example, you will be ashamed .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkzCiTQfQ_k

Yes, the Govt of Donald Duke or whoever invested in such projects as the Tinapa, yet the place is not even performing! How do we expect it to perform when the MD of Tinapa can not even discuss the strategies he has in place to make sure that even the locals (Nigerians) visit .  Yes, Nigerians travel to go shop in Dubai, London, New-York and other places, the question is what are you doing as MD to make sure that people will rather shop in our own backyard since they can get all these designer labels at your trade zone? There's a proverb in Yoruba that says "alagemo ti bi omo e tan, aimo jo ku si owo iya omo" In my opinion, i think the MD is just there doing almost nothing,

methinks nigerians would rather travel to uk and shop, even if those stores opened shop here. Its all about the beento experience, and how many times

you should also listen to Liyel Imoke on the same video according to The Gov. on CNN interview " government are not the best managers"

transfer of vision from one dispensation to another?

but my question is this- you should at least manage/formulate policies!!! in line to what Cross River stands for in terms of Tourism. I mean, what move has the Gov. made to save tourism? is anybody in the Cross River house of Assembly even interested in Tourism?? We need to get ourselves interested first. We need to be passionate and take pride in what we have on offer.

cr is a state 'surrounded' by oil states, yet with no oil. With what they've achieved without oil, you can imagine where they could have been. Those ppl r a different breed. Kudos to them.

They have their december carnival, during which all hotels are fully booked and everything increases in price mid nov to mid jan. The ppl make money then. Does the govt? Maybe thats why they cant have monthly fetes or fests? Who will pick the bills? We wey wan go go go. We know wetin we dey find.


Without simple things such as these, it will be hard for Nigerian Tourism to really compete let alone market it.

I beg to digress a bit here, look at lagos state and what the Gov. is doing there! Yes. Fashola is simply doing what is expected of him so we shouldn't sing his praises to high heavens, but the point again is, lagos is only fortunate to have a leader with vision and i hope by the time he leaves office, sombody with a similar mind will take over and continue or otherwise, what fasola has been able to achieve in 8 years will just the Nigerian way

In my opinion, i think Cross River (CR) is a place to start/continue to promote the tourism potential in Nigeria. After all, Baltimore Inner Habor renaissance (in the USA) did not just start in one day and Disney land in Orlando,FL (US) did not just get to where they are just by accident.

Cross River is already close to the atlantic/sea, structures have been put in place to a reasonable extent (Tinapa, Obudu mountains, unique cultures in this part of Nigeria,waterfalls, very rare specie of monkey/baboon in the mountains, historical sites such as the role CRiver played in the slave trade, etc, etc) All it needs is probably strategies to attract/re-brand things as we want. I think if Cross River can market itself well, people even in naija will want to travel there for vacation. At this point, we really need to attract outsiders, we need to patronize the destination ourselves.
The marketing campaign will start of course from things such as the Airport in Calabar we should try and make it look at least like MMA2 in lagos .

cr even try. At least dem get airport.

If we eliminate the northern states cos of bokoh, and se/ss cos of kidnappers, how many western states with airports are we left with. Forget road travel, at least for oyinbos.

Seems we r left with lagos and calabar as the only 2 viable intl tourist destinations in naija

In essence, there's a lot that can be done to Cross River state in terms of Tourism!!

Peace out

shawonlese:

Watching from the sidelines.

yamakuza:

@n1
how much of a cashcow is it for Japan as described?

End.

Methinks spiritual tourism sells in naija. Synagogue, osunfest, eyofest.

Would have suggested sports tourism as a niche attraction, but someone recently asked on NL what happened to Glo half marathon?

Was looking at the likes of tennis, golf, cycling or F1 but for a country that couldnt afford to host FIFA U17 without state govts, maybe boxing might be a cheaper alternative?

Most of these sports have gambling and bookmaking undercurrents sha, so all join.

At the end of the day, it might be achievable on a state by state level sha, as a form of IGR vs national spearheading or policies.

alj_harem:

op

it tourism and hospitality is quite a lurative business and also easy employment for your friend

1) u can open your business in travel and tourism

2) u can get employed in big hotels like eko hotel, hilton hotel etc

3.) u can start your business in hotels

4.) be an hotel manager

5.) get appointment from the government

etc

yamakuza:

Do  you know much about tourism in Japan?  The question you need to ask and answer is, how many countries in the world solely rely on the tourism "cashcow"?

@N1 : dont know. wanted to know hence the question. expect(ed) it to be better than 9ja, and wondered how u could equate the 2, unless u were just comparing and not equating ,

very few countries rely majorly on tourism for most of their income, but i assumed it wouldnt hurt for 9ja to add it to its


so, kindly educate me on whether Japan is doing ok with their line of tourism. thanks

N101:

My friend, tourism goes well beyond hotels.  Hotels can be used to make money regardless of whether there is tourism or not (e.g. party functions, conferences etc).  Even then, it doesn't have to be a hotel.  Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are littered with very good guest houses which are less expensive and good value for money.

You can latch on other occupations to tourism - for example, a place of interest (think of any one)

[list]
[li]Making postcards, keyrings, notebooks, carvings, mats[/li]

[li]Writing and printing guides/programmes to places/events, maps and brochures[/li]

[li]Sell these items at the place itself - you can either be mobile or stationary[/li]

[li]Be a guide/compere for places/events. Also man the entrance points and provide security at events[/li]

[li]Maintaining the place[/li]

[/list]

Those are just a few.  Now can you see how many more people can be employed - even family and friends - beyond simply running a hotel?