Guardian

Over the past decades, international trade and tourism have steadily increased, placing burden on governments to balance opportunities and profitability while not losing sight of security. The leap in global trade, for example, meant that processes must support efficient movement of goods and persons to positively impact national economies. The Nigerian tourism industry is still evolving when juxtaposed with others within the continent. The inability of the nation to enhance linkages among stakeholders, other industries, events, destination points and heritage sites remains a challenge to driving growth in the sector. Tourism thrives when nations open up markets to stimulate trade as well as services and investments. But any market opening needs to be properly designed and implemented, taking account of the social and environmental impacts, if sustainable tourism and growth could bring to bear on the nation’s overall economy. FEMI ADEKOYA writes.

WHEN the Country Director, British Council, David Higgs while speaking on the future of cultural tourism in Nigeria said “Foreigners largely come to Nigeria for work rather than leisure”, many participants, especially stakeholders within the tourism industry felt slightly disturbed, going by the influx of foreigners into the country during international fairs and cultural events.

However, the reality remains that tourism in Nigeria has not been treated as trade with the country losing so much revenue from lack of interconnectedness of other sectors of the economy to the tourism sector.

Like some stakeholders explained, tourism in many economies is interconnected with key sectors in driving growth. From the aviation sector to hospitality business, to the transport sector, to financial services sector and the real sector, tourism provides adequate linkages to drive and sustain trade and investments in any economy.

The tourism sector has suffered from a lack of political and popular support in many countries, especially Nigeria because its economic importance has been underestimated.     The industry and its impact can be difficult to define and measure since it comprises sellers of many heterogeneous products. The sector is a major direct employer and supports a much wider indirect employment base in supplying industries.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) notes that tourism is also a complex industry. It can generate significant economic activity through linkages with other industries, such as agriculture, manufacturing and other services.

Specifically, tourism can boost demand for goods and services – food, construction, and transport – from other sectors; the tourism industries that sell goods and services to tourists can also sell products to businesses in other sectors.

OECD analysis finds that tourism is linked in this way to more other industries than the average services sector, suggesting that tourism may be one of the most interconnected services sectors in many economies.

For instance, trade shows have long been seen as an important marketing tool for a large number of industries that need to exhibit their products to a specific audience.

From the tourism perspective, trade shows are more than mere platforms for marketing products and services. These shows are an important part of the convention and meetings industry. Tourism industry leaders are well aware of the fact that trade shows produce not only primary business (the business that takes place on the trade show floor) but also secondary business (business that is the result of servicing the trade show participants, such as hotels and restaurants) and even tertiary business (business that comes from trade show participants returning at a later time to the trade show’s host community). Precisely, many tourism leaders view trade shows as “conventions with a product to sell”.

In India, for example, tourism is rated above average in generating supply of goods and services to other sectors. Tourism is rated as one of the most interconnected services sectors in the economy in terms of demand for goods and services from other sectors surpassed only by manufacturing, the electricity sector, health and social work, and non-tourism-related air transport, hotel and restaurant activity.

According to the OECD, tourism is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing industries and its importance for economic development is widely acknowledged.

What makes tourism different from many other services is that the supplier stays where he is, and the tourist comes to him rather than the supplier taking his services to the consumer. Tourism can thus play a key role in poverty alleviation, bringing jobs for unskilled or semi-skilled workers in hotels, resorts and at cultural sites, as well as encouraging job creation in supply industries.

These are all critical contributors to growth in developing economies. But if tourism is to offer a sustainable path to poverty alleviation, policies are needed to ensure that the benefits are shared and spread across the states, and that measures are taken to minimise the adverse impact of tourism on the environment.

The importance of the tourist sector is reflected in the relatively liberal environment currently in place in most countries. Nearly 130 World Trade Organization (WTO) members have made commitments to open up their tourist sector, more than for any other service sector, reflecting a desire to expand tourism and attract foreign direct investment.

But there is still a great deal of scope for developing countries to expand tourism and the opportunities it offers for socio-economic development. One factor restricting such growth is a lack of adequate services and infrastructure.

Speaking at the Pre-Centenary celebration lecture with the theme “Promoting cultural tourism in Nigeria: The past, present and the future” organized by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lagos, recently, the President of the Chamber, Goodie Ibru, said that the current socio-political problems of insecurity, inadequate infrastructure and harsh business environment have continued to impact negatively on the tourism industry.

According to him, if the nation is to reap the fruit of the various efforts in public and private sectors of the economy to boost tourism, government must pay attention to solving the problems mitigating the growth of the sector, as this sector cannot stand alone neither is it immune to the various risks and challenges in the Nigerian economy.

Also, David Higgs, while speaking on the future of tourism in Nigeria, noted that the future of the nation’s tourism sector lies in the nation’s ability to promote a sector that provides affordable and quality services, and also has ease of access to the country through a relaxed visa application framework.

“Foreigners largely come to Nigeria for work rather than leisure. I can tell you it is a hard job to entice workers to come here, but once they get here, they usually relax into the place. Some never leave. It is not the internal travel opportunities. Roads are bad and flights expensive. It is not the arts scene. It is not the beaches.

“Two factors. First, it is the nation’s earning potential. Nigeria has a major skills deficit that is partly filled by immigrant labour. Secondly, the Nigerian people are the source of attraction to foreigners. Foreigners find them accessible, warm, dynamic and friendly. If these factors are taking into consideration, combined with infrastructure development, Nigeria will become a destination point for tourists.

Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-Governmental Relations, Disun Holloway noted that there is a need to create linkages among stakeholders to aid tourism promotion.

He added that the state government is working with stakeholders to make the state a preferable destination point in the country.

President, Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria, Olu Alabi advocated increased consumption of indigenous products by Nigerians before foreign investments can be attracted in to the country.

Industry watchers however believe that for starters and developing nations, transport services and in particular the air transport sector is key; access to destinations at reasonable prices is a precondition for the development of tourism. Also, physical infrastructure, including airports, harbours, accommodation, electricity and water and sewage, needs to be in place and periodically upgraded to meet the needs of increasing tourist arrivals.

Telecommunications services are another increasingly important driver for tourism development, with the IT infrastructure having a major impact on the structure of the tourism industry.

Furthermore, an effective financial system is also a key enabler of tourism growth, both to create a thriving business environment and for the tourist experience. Marketing and promotion are essential to generate viable levels of demand for tourism and to succeed in a very competitive world. The stakeholders believe that how developing countries deal with these bottlenecks will affect tourism development.