‘Make Tourism Sector Top Revenue Earner’

A tourism expert, Prof. Oladele Falade, has urged the Federal Government to make the nation’s tourism sector its highest revenue earner.

Falade, a lecturer in the Department of Tourism and Event Management, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, said this in a telephone interview with our correspondent.

He noted that Nigeria depended much on oil for revenue.

“Therefore, the government should intensify efforts to diversify its revenue sources.

“The government had, in the past, been preoccupied with the availability of crude oil, thereby losing focus on developing tourism which can become a top revenue earner for the country.

“Some African countries such as Kenya, Egypt and even America depend on tourism for their revenue.

“Nigeria should intensify efforts to diversify its sources of revenue to secure the future of the country,’’ Falade said.

He said: “What needs to be done is to focus on revitalising the sector, ensuring that neglected tourism sites are revived.’’

“Those tourism sites which are not known to people should be opened up and the dilapidated infrastructure within and around these tourism sites be transformed,’’ he said.

Falade said that an advanced tourism sector would lure investors from all parts of the country to invest in the sector.

He urged the government to collaborate with the private sector to transform the tourism sector.