Amachree Tasks LASG On Tourism Potentials

Father of Tourism in Nigeria, Chief (Dr.) Mike Amaechree has called on the Lagos State Government to explore and exploit the state’s vast tourism potentials as a step towards transforming the state into one of the leading tourism destinations in Africa.
Chief Amaechree who made the call at the just concluded 2018 Akwaaba African Travel Market, held at the Expo Hall of Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, also called on the state government to empower private tourism industry professionals in the state as a means of further expanding its resource base through tourism.
Speaking as a guest during the well-packaged and exciting Lagos Day at the fair, Chief Amaechree commended the state for its vision and efforts to make tourism a key sector in the state’s economy. He declared: “I wish to commend the government of Lagos for its strategic focus on tourism. I think it is a step in the right direction. The tourism vision of Lagos is such that if effectively implemented, would make Lagos a leading tourist centre in Africa”.
The foremost indigenous tourism practitioner in the country noted that Lagos was so blessed in the area of heritage and eco-tourism that the current effort of repositioning it should be sustained.
Chief Amachree also observed that Lagos State had close to 200 kilometres of white sandy beach front which could be transformed into a major tourism asset.
According to Chief Amaechree, who is the father of Nigeria’s tourism, the state, the entertainment capital of Africa, being the birth place of Nollywood and home to some of the biggest music names in Africa, could boost its tourism infrastructure of the state.
He said it was important that the state empowered the private sector to come up with tourism products that would attract Africa and the rest of the world to the state, adding that the duty of government was to create the enabling environment for tourism to thrive, thereby encouraging private sector tourism investors to key into the vision of the state.
Chief Amaechree commended the organizers of the Akwaaba Travel Market for consistently improving on the fair annually, describing it as a positive plank for bringing people from within and outside the Africa continent to Nigeria.
He also said the fair offered opportunity to tourism practitioners in Africa countries to cooperate synergise in the interest of the overall development of tourism in Africa.
The doyen of tourism in Nigeria, promised to undertake a tour across the country for an assessment of the level of tourism activities and the level of involvement by the various state governments with a view to enhancing tourism development in Nigeria.
Among those present at the Lagos Day were the director-general, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Segun Runsewe, Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, Anambra State commissioner for Tourism and Culture, Mrs. Salley Mabnefo, the first deputy president, Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria, Mr. Nkereuwem Onung and several others.