The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo and his counterpart in the Federal Ministry of Culture, Arts, Tourism and Creative Economy, Dr. Hannatu Musa Musawa, are among five Ministers billed to grace the 7th edition of the National Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo holding in Abuja from Tuesday 3rd to Wednesday 4th December, 2024.
The summit with the theme: Tourism Transportation Connectivity: Accelerating The Synergy for National Economic Development. organized by the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN) in conjunction with industry players in the private and public sectors.
Making the disclosure to newsmen in Abuja, Chief Abiodun Odusanwo, National President of the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN) and Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Organizing Committee of the Summit, said that the National Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo which is a flagship programme of the Institute, serves as a stop gap mechanism approved by the 15th National Council on Transportation that the annual tourism and transportation summit and expo be held in view of the interconnectivity that exists between transportation and tourism.
Chief Odusanwo noted further that the singular act underscores the connectivity brought by transportation, which is at the heart of the tourism-transport value chain.
The Summit therefore, seeks to explore and further strengthen the links between both sectors and maximize their impacts on employment, inclusive growth and sustainable development of the economy.
Since this approval, the National Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo became a combined industry event during which the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN), partnered and collaborated with the Federal Ministries of Tourism, Aviation, Transportation and related stakeholders, leading to the successful hosting of six editions; 2018 – 2023, with the plan for the seventh edition this year, at the concluding stage.
A chronology of the Summit and Expo 2018 – 2023 details, shows that the first edition was held on Monday 21st – Tuesday 22nd May, 2018 with the theme; Tourism and Transport, the Key Sectors for Sustainable and Resilient Growth and Development x-raying the importance of transportation as the backbone of tourism development and its economic survival; the second edition was held from Monday 29th to Tuesday 30th April, 2019, and had the theme “Tourism and Transportation Inter-dependencies for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable development” aimed at bringing together all players in the tourism and transportation industries to discuss issues hindering the growth of the two sectors for maximum inclusive growth and sustainable development of the Nigerian economy.
Desirous of kick starting and encouraging activities in the tourism and transportation sub-sectors of the economy despite the Corona Virus Pandemic, which literally brought the world to a standstill, the third edition in 2020 was held Monday 7th – Tuesday 8th December 2020, with the theme Repositioning Tourism and Transportation Connectivity and Mobility to Revitalize the Economy; In 2021, the fourth Summit and Expo was held Monday 15th – Tuesday 16th November, 2021, came with an additional dimension aimed at unifying the African Continent for a prosperous economic growth leveraging on the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) with the choice of the theme; Tourism Transportation Connectivity and Partnership: Leveraging the AfCFTA Regime for Economic Sustainability.
The 5th edition was held from Monday 25th – Tuesday 26th April, 2022 with the theme: ‘African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): Strengthening Connectivity, Effects and Partnership’.
The Summit seeks to explore such areas as human capacity training for quality labour mobility, developing and marketing of the Nigerian tourism potentials, infrastructural development in intra-modal transportation sector among others to enable it participate effectively in the AfCFTA Regime; while the 6th edition was held from Monday 8th – Tuesday 9th May, 2023 with the theme: AfCFTA: Exploring Intra-African Trade, Tourism and Transportation Opportunities and Mitigating the Barriers to Collaboration with the objective of deepening the understanding, working, implementation and challenges of actualizing the AfCFTA regime implementation.
After the 6th edition of the Summit and Expo, a Compendium of the compiled Communiques of the six Summits and Expo was produced and circulated to relevant MDAs, Organized Private Sector and the Diplomatic Communities.
In hosting the 7th edition of the Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo this year, organizers took cognizance of the vital documents that the past six editions have produced in the form of Communiques and seeks to bring into effect their implementation as roadmaps to give the industry players the leeway to play their respective roles in the most appropriate ways that guarantee the best economic benefits for the country. Hence the theme: Tourism Transportation Connectivity: Accelerating The Synergy for National Economic Development.
Organizers are of the view that the awareness must be created of the relevance and importance of Communiques of the past Summits so as to accomplish the purpose for which the Summit and Expo was approved and being hosted.
Chief Abiodun Odusanwo said that this year’s Summit is to reaffirm the need for synergy and collaboration in areas of operations of the tourism transportation sector for national economic growth and development.
He then went on to reel out some of the presentations expected as sub-themes of the Summit during plenary sessions, noting that speakers for this year’s Summit are drawn from key players of the Public Sector, represented by Ministries, Departments and Agencies and the Organized Private Sector, who are drivers of the industry.
According to Chief Odusanwo, they include: The Nigerian Shippers Council–NSC leading discussions on Encourage Massive Investment in Water Front Properties, Resource and Etiquette Training; Nigeria Tourism Development Authority—NTDA, to head discussions on: ‘Connect and Explore: Trusted Travel Hub for Seamless Journeys’; The Federal Road Safety Corps– FRSC will lead presentations on ‘The Relevance of Directional Signs in Tourism Transportation’ and the National Council for Arts and Culture—NCAC will lead presentations on ‘Artistic Collaboration and Partnership in Tourism Transportation’
Others are the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism–NIHOTOUR to lead the panel of discussants on ‘Personnel Training for Enhanced Performance and Service delivery in Tourism, Transportation, and Allied Industries ‘; While the Nigeria Meteorological Agency—NiMet is leading discussions on Impact of Climate/Weather Forecasting on Tourism in the Sectoral Planning of Nigeria and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council—NEPC is chairing discussions on ‘Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export Procedures: Sharing Expertise on Export Documentation, Logistics and Freight Management in the Tourism Transportation Sector’.
The National Tourism Summit and Expo has since inception in 2018, offered the platform for public and private sector stakeholders, producers and consumers in Nigeria and the African Continent to come together, share ideas, experiences, exchange knowledge and showcase their skills in the growth, development and promotion of the nation’s economic endowments, this time, by promoting the ideals of the value chain inherent in the tourism transportation sector.
Participants at the two-day event will be drawn from major key players and stakeholders in the transportation and tourism sectors such as the air transportation; i.e. airlines, tour and travel operators, administrators of the aviation industry; the maritime industry which includes sea transport, boats and sea cruising operators; Road Transportation including major transport owners, car hire services, Uber, Road Traffic and Safety Agencies including the FRSC, Motor Insurance Companies; State Transport Ministries and Agencies; Rail Transport Services.
Others are operators of the Tourism and Hospitality industry including tourism resort operators, National Parks Services; museums and monuments, State Tourism Ministries and Boards, Festivals and tourism events managers; Hoteliers, Restaurants and fast food operators; conferences and events managers; as well as service providers in the banking, oil and gas industries.
The Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo programme will feature Host City Walk, Tourism Transport Summit, Exhibition, B2B and G2B sessions, Tourism Transport Membership and Fellowship inductions, and the Gala Night which will also feature Awards to deserving stakeholders in the industry.
