Nigeria must urgently activate its diaspora and fix structural tourism gaps if Detty December is to become a globally competitive festival by 2026, the Chief Executive Officer of TravelWithSamGlobal, Sam Adeleke has advised.
Presenting lessons from last year’s festival at the Naija7Wonders Conference, the travel executive called for a dual strategy involving government-led diaspora engagement and private sector-led experience curation.
He proposed the creation of a structured Diaspora Ambassador Programme to transform Nigerians abroad into active promoters of the country.
“Nigeria has the largest and most globally distributed diaspora. We are sitting on the world’s most powerful tourism salesforce — but we haven’t activated it,” he said.
He noted that countries like Morocco, Rwanda and Ghana have successfully deployed diaspora-driven tourism advocacy frameworks and urged Nigerian authorities to adopt a similar model.
For the private sector, he called for smarter packaging of tourism experiences.
“Build for trust. Build for clarity. Build for ease. Build for the experience,” he advised.
Drawing from his company’s performance during the last Detty December season, he said diaspora Nigerians were the biggest spenders due to foreign currency earnings and emotional connections. In contrast, international tourists were few and required extensive support, including security arrangements, guided itineraries and constant reassurance.
Rather than seeing this as a burden, he described it as a market opportunity.
Looking ahead, he warned that Nigeria risks losing its first-mover advantage if improvements are not made quickly.
“Either we structure Detty December into a true global tourism export, or other African countries will replicate and outperform us,” he said.
He revealed that his firm was recently engaged by Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Tourism and Culture to support an international music festival — evidence that competitors are already moving.
“Demand is not enough. Interest must be converted,” he concluded. “If done right, Detty December will stop being a seasonal moment and become a year-round industry.”
