Expert Seeks Nigeria’s Rebranding Through Tourism Dev

T

he Director of Eagle
Tourism in Cape Town , South Africa, Mr Azu Okparaugo, last Tuesday urged the Federal Government to harness Nigeria’s tourism potential to rebrand the country.

Okparaugo told  newsmen in Cape Town that deliberate efforts to tap into several tourist sites and locations which abound in Nigeria would increase its foreign exchange earnings.

“South Africa as at last week went to Nigeria to go and open its tourism office, targeting Nigerians that used to travel to England and U.S. “Knowing how much Nigerians spend in tourism, they went there and opened this office.

“The statistics showed us that just in 2013, we had about 73,000 Nigerians that visited South Africa on tourism.

“You can imagine the amount of money that they generated just from Nigeria. You can put it in the region of more than 20 million Rands.

“So, the fact is not just about the money alone, the jobs that it creates; and the point is that they use this sector to market South Africa for every other thing,’’ he said.

According to him, the South African government earns millions of dollars from tourism annually and that Nigeria has potentials to make such money.

Okparaugo, who is also the President of the Nigerian community in Western Cape Province of South Africa, urged the Federal government to use tourism to attract more foreign investors.

“We may not have the same facilities as South Africa, but there is something that we have in Nigeria that has not been tapped.

“The religious tourism could be developed in Nigeria. There are millions of people from Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, and Southern African Development region that come to Nigeria for religious programmes annually.

“Government should create an enabling environment and infrastructure around those things people come and see. For about five tourists that come to Nigeria, there is a job,’’ he said.