Creative Industry
NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Event, Panacea to Promoting Nigerian Cuisines For Export-FTAN
NIHOTOUR: The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), Chief Samuel Alabi has applauded the observance of the annual World Sustainable Gastronomy Day by the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) in the country as a sure way of promoting Nigerian array of exquisite cuisines for export to the global community.
Chief Alabi who stated this in an interview he granted Africa Travel Herald was a Special Guest and recipient of NIHOTOUR’s Fellowship Award at the just concluded 2022 World Sustainable Gastronomy Day hosted by the Institute in Abuja, noted that the event was unprecedented in the history of the industry, and in particular, the hospitality sector.
He said the food exhibition, couple with the skill acquisition programs embarked upon by NIHOTOUR across the country, is empowering the youths to export not only the skills they acquire, but the Nigerian cuisines in the form of establishing Nigerian Kitchen abroad.
The FTAN BOT Chairman, said he was amazed at the varieties of Nigerian dishes displayed at the exhibition booths of the six geo-political zones of the country packaged by NIHOTOUR, including the South West Zone where he came from, in his words; ‘I don’t know that we have varieties of food even from the South West that am from, I found out that there are cuisines that I have never seen before, I tasted them and they were wonderful.”
He concluded that the gastronomy day exercise was a worthwhile venture that government must support and promote it annually.
Speaking further to the Africa Travel Herald, he commended the foresight of the Director General of NIHOTOUR, Nura Sani Kangiwa, who, since inception as Chief Executive Officer of the Institute, came up with brilliant ideas and innovations that are putting the sector in remarkable limelight, adding that this is what you get when you put professionals in the right leadership position to head, because Kangiwa is a professional and active key player in the industry, saying ‘this is putting a round peg in a round hole’.
He said the remarkable successes and achievements of Nura Kangiwa as Director General of NIHOTOUR within the short period of his assumption has proved and made a case for the appointment of industry practitioners into key positions in the public sector, including the tourism and hospitality industry.
According to Chief Alabi, he said he was impressed with lots of things at the gastronomy day event, ‘The attendance of foreign embassies was very amazing.
The creative and ingenuity of the Mobile Kitchen was another awesome sight to behold; and above of all, the manner and way the Director General conducted himself, moving about his staff and guests to ensure prompt and orderliness with a degree of humility, noting that other CEOs would have sat bossily and watch things unfold just anyhow. ‘I must say am impressive and give kudos to NIHOTOUR to have made this happened
Creative Industry
FG Backs MyCityApp Launch of 100-Day Tourism Calendar to Drive $100bn Economic Growth
Joel Ajayi
The Federal Government has thrown its weight behind the launch of MyCityApp, a Nigerian city discovery and tourism platform designed to aggregate festivals, concerts, cultural events and lifestyle experiences into a single digital calendar.
The platform, which flags off the 100-Day Tourism Calendar, was unveiled on Monday at the Ember2Remember National Stakeholders’ Conference in Victoria Island, Lagos, with the initiative targeting Nigeria’s estimated $100 billion tourism and creative economy opportunity.
In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja by the Media and Publicity Adviser to the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Nneka Ikem Anibeze, the ministry said the conference was aimed at mobilising public and private stakeholders to transform the September-to-December festive period into jobs, investment and economic growth.
Speaking at the unveiling, the Minister, Hannatu Musa Musawa, said millions of visitors travel across Nigeria every year to celebrate, reconnect and experience the country’s diverse culture, stressing that the festive season could be deliberately organised and monetised to strengthen tourism’s contribution to the economy.
“This initiative is about moving beyond the traditional concept of a festive season. It is about deliberately organising, packaging, promoting, and monetising one of the most economically active periods in our national calendar,” Musawa said.
She noted that every visitor generates economic activity across several sectors, including aviation, transportation, hospitality, restaurants, entertainment, retail, technology, artisans and local communities.
The Minister commended MyCityApp Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Ifeoma Chukwu, for her vision and commitment to the initiative.
She urged state governments, event organisers, tourism operators, hospitality businesses and other stakeholders to list their festivals, concerts, exhibitions, food experiences, cultural celebrations, fashion and sporting events on the national calendar.
Musawa said the platform would enable Nigerians, members of the diaspora and international visitors to discover tourism and entertainment experiences across the country from a single, credible source.
Earlier, Chukwu said Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage and creative sector provided enormous opportunities for tourism-driven economic growth.
She cited the contributions of tourism to the economies of countries such as Spain, France and the United States, arguing that Nigeria could equally build a $100 billion tourism economy.
Also present were Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Toke Benson-Awoyinka; Enugu State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Ugochi Madueke; NCAC Director-General, Obi Asika; National Gallery of Art Director-General, Ahmed Sodangi; ARCON Director-General, Dr Olalekan Fadolapo; and MTN Nigeria CEO, Dr Karl Toriola.
MyLagosApp and MyCityApp will serve as the digital engines of the calendar, distributing events through a 360-degree media ecosystem to audiences in Nigeria and the diaspora.
Stakeholders were encouraged to upload their events on MyCityApp to participate in the national tourism calendar urging them to upload events on http://www.MyCityApp.io.
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