November 28, (THEWILL) – The Director-General of the National Council For Arts and Culture, Otunba Segun Runsewe and the Director-General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), Turaki Nura Kangiwa, will be the guest speakers at the 2021 edition of Hospitality Day, an off-shoot of the Akwaaba African Travel Market event, scheduled to take place in Lagos on November 30 in Lagos.
Hospitality sector has been through enough due to the effect of Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the Founder of Akwaaba African Travel Market, Ikechi Uko, this year’s event is dedicated to the hospitality and the leisure sector and its capacity to heal.
“There will be training on meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibition and a specialist certificate course on tourism in Nigeria. There will also be discussions on themes woven around hospitality and standardisation in Nigeria,” he said.
In drawing up programmes for the event, Uko noted, Akwaaba went into a partnership with NIHOTOUR for the training of tourism professionals in Nigeria.
At this year’s Hospitality Day, various issues will be treated by experts. Kangiwa will speak on the theme, ‘How to Scale Hospitality Training to Meet International Standards’ as a special guest alongside Runsewe. This will be the first time he will be participating at event as the boss of NIHOTOUR. The institute was a pioneer exhibitor at the maiden Akwaaba African Travel Market event in 2004 held under the leadership of then Director General, Alhaji Munzali Dantata.
A panel that comprises Tana Forsuelo of Wavecrest, Victor Kayode of NHCI and Justina Ovat, president of Women in Hospitality Nigeria, will treat that subject, while the president of Golden Tulip Hotels, West Africa, examines how hotels have helped tourism industry’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and attendant lockdown in the topic: ‘The Role of Hotels in the Leisure Economy and Tourism Recovery.’
Since the Supreme Court Judgement of 2013, which took away the powers of the Federal Government to regulate tourism, how has the industry responded? What are the grey areas and what should the practitioners do? Chief Sam Alabi, Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), will speak on ‘The Limits of State Regulation of Tourism and Hospitality Business’
The Fallout of that judgement is on ‘Hotel Classification’. The Topic will be discussed by the stakeholders and the three states that have made very serious attempts at organising their hotel environment. The topic, ‘State Registration and Classification of Hotels: The Journey So Far’ will be handled by the First National Deputy President of FTAN, Alhaji Badaki Aliyu.
The African Travel Market will officially begin on November 29 with the Youth Tourism Panel. The panel consists of the champions and pioneers of domestic tourism in Nigeria. They are expected to share their experiences on how they started and how they survived the challenges and the future plans. The panel will have a pioneer of Instagram tourism promotions in Nigeria, Chiamaka Obuekwe, CEO of Social Prefect Tours, as one of its members.
She will join Bolaji Seun of Naija Explorers; Dr. Onifade Adekunle Eedris of Universal Aviation School; Aminat Akanbi, CEO of Triplisters; Cordis Marianuela Umeokoli, CEO of Mardis Travels and Sam Adeleke of Travelwith SamGlobal.
The session will be moderated by Obinna Emelike, the Tourism and Art Editor at BusinessDay Newspapers.
Olugbenga Sunday Omotayo, the Promoter of Idere Hills in Oyo State, will also share his experience on how he moved from hotel management to become destination manager.
The second panel will be on ‘Outbound Tours and Travel Tears’. What are the challenges do tour operators encounter in handling international tours? How can they be handled? A high level panel from leading travel associations, NATOP and NANTA, will treat this issue.
The panelists will include the current president of NANTA, Susan Akporiaye, and it will be moderated by the vice-president of NATOP and Lagos Coordinator FTAN, Ime Udo. Other panelists are David Lamidi, the Co-Founder of Diamond and Pearl Travels; Shalom Asuquo -Ankoh of Travel Lab; Cecile Doumbe of CMD Tours; Odion Chigbufue of Tour Brokers International; Egbane Pelagie, the Chief Experience Curator at 3Cords Leisure and Vacation and Gbenga Onitilo of Wakanow.
The second batch of the Nigerian Tourism Specialist Certificate course, will also be held on Monday. The Top 20 Natural Wonders of Nigeria, the Naija 7 Wonders will be unveiled on November 30 by some special guests, all members of the Tourism 100 Club who were recently upgraded by the government and their respective associations.
They are Princess Surah Animashaun, who got elected as Chairman, EPE Local Government Area, Piriye Kiriyamo, who has been appointed as the Senior Special Assistant on Tourism to the Governor of Bayelsa State and Nkereuwem Onung, who got elected as the President of the Tourism Federation in Nigeria.
The exhibitions will end with the usual celebrations of Lagos Day at Akwaaba. Due to the pandemic rules, the Lagos Day will not be as elaborate as expected. The hosted buyer packages and boat cruise will not hold as usual but delegates will be hosted on December 1 to the opening ceremony of the Greater Lagos Fiesta by the Lagos State Government.
The organisers of Akwaaba African Travel Market recently launched search for Seven Wonders of Nigeria last year to draw attention to the tourism attractions in Nigeria. A committee made up of 150 top tourism practitioners in Nigeria, who are all members of the elite group of Tourism 100 Club. They have shortlisted 35 destinations for the public to choose from and the winners will be announced at Akwaaba.
Akwaaba is the largest gathering of travel professionals in West Africa with over 3,000 delegates attending. It has over the years become the meeting place for travel and tourism practitioners in Africa, and has drawn attendance from over 20 nations. Many VIPs have graced the event in the past, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of The Gambia, Late Dawda Jawara, the former Vice President of Nigeria, late Alex Ekwueme, the former Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations, Sir Emeka Anyaoku, former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, former Governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke and Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State.
About the Author
Janefrances Ebere Chibuzor is a Tourism Writer at THEWILL
