By Renn Offor
Nigerian Association of Tour Operators (NATOP) hosted a celebration today to mark the 2016 World Tourism Day, an event which turned into a day of relishing fond memories of the glorious days of tourism in Nigeria as the audience were held spell bound by heroic tales of the Nigerian tourism founding fathers who fought to raise tourism in the world and Nigeria in particular. The event was used to recognize and honour one of the living founding fathers, Chief Amachree.
PHOTO CAPTION: NATOP-Carnival Calabar Partnership: Mr. Gabe Onah, Chairman, Carnival Calabar Commission in warm handshake with Mr. Kkereuwem Onung, National President, Nigeria Association of Tour Operators ( NATOP) flanked by Mrs Gabatti (2nd l), Mrs. Ime Udo (4th r), Mr. Ken Aklar ( 3rd r), Mr. Jemi Alade (2nd r) and others
NATOP also used the celebration to herald its partnership with the Carnival Calabar, another milestone in positioning and promoting Nigeria’s top cultural brand and Africa’s biggest street party.
The event saw full representation from Cross River State Governor’s envoy for the Carnival Calabar led by the Carnival Chairman, Mr. Gabe Onah, Mr. Ken Aklar and a team of the Carnival Marketing Consultants.
PHOTO cAPTION: NATOP’s World Tourism Day Celebration: representatives from NATOP, Carnival Calabar and other dignitaries. Ebele Enemchukwu, Mrs. Tourism United Nations (center), Mr. Hloni Pitso ( beside her)
A delegation from South African Tourism was present, and was led by Mr. Hloni Pitso who is West Africa Region Manager and in his company was Mr. Kwajaffa Mohammed, Trade Relations Manager for West Africa. South Africa Tourism is already in partnership with NATOP.
Proceeding with the event memories of the pioneering efforts of three great Nigerians who were instrumental to establishing Nigerian tourism sector, late Ignatius Atigbi and Mr. Da Silva with Amachree, who is still alive. National President of NATOP, Mr. Nkereuwem Onung said that ‘Government should restore our tourism ministry’, so that according to the Nigerian National Anthem, ‘The labours of our heroes past shall never be in vain’.
Mr. Ikechi Uko, Organizer of Akwaaba African Travel Market Apart, apart from tracing the gallant efforts of former President Obasanjo, who set up the tourism ministry, the proposal that was adopted by UNWTO to adopt September 27 as World Tourism Day which was first suggested by a Nigerian, Mr. Ignatius Atigbi, harped also on the gallant effort of a travel journalist, Mr. Lucky George, who traveled all the way to Madrid to prove with evidence to the world body that Atigbi deserved recognition.
Ignatius Atigbi was later honored by the UNWTO posthumously with an Award in 2009 for his effort.
Mr. Uko went on to trace the historic works of the successive building efforts by the past Director Generals of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) in that sector from Omotayo Omotosho to Otunba Segun Runsewe, speaker after speaker lamented the dearth and downturn of events in the sector for the past few years which was further compounded by the scrapping of the tourism ministry by the current government of Nigeria led by President Mohammad Buhari.
Gabe Onah, speaking on the partnership and relating it to the World Tourism Day celebration said: ‘For us at the Carnival Calabar we are happy that the import of the World Tourism Day is dawning on all the sectors that make tourism to tick.
‘A product cannot be a product until it is marketed. And one of the strong pillars of a tourism experience is the stake holding concern which is that platform that takes it to the consumer.
‘So, we have offered ourselves to them and they have offered themselves to us, so that this golden egg of the culture of Nigeria, which is like the oil with which our tourism is eaten, the Carnival Calabar could now appeal to Nigerian tourists who are now weary of travelling abroad can now choose to come to Carnival Calabar. And this one thing Nigerians have done well: enjoying our culture’, Gabe also added.
Hon. Ken Aklar, speaking on what to expect at the Carnival Calabar for this year, said: ‘Fire works! Expect the fireworks as usual’, as he went on to enumerate all the various activities to expect for the carnival this year.
He added that for this year’s event, ‘Nickelodeon would come to give children a new dimension of experience and fun this year’.
The event had in attendance managers of hotels, tour operators and consultants, travel agents and travel and tourism stakeholders along with the media.
