Stakeholders in the tourism industry have identified wide gap between technology-driven globally connected tourism businesses and the traditional ones that are yet to adapt to the digitalized business practices as the bane of the nation’s tourism sector.
The stakeholders stated this at the South-East Tourism Stakeholders Interactive Forum held in Enugu on Friday, with the theme “Utilizing Digital Tools for Optimization and Destination Marketing”, organised by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC).
They opined that Nigeria’s tourism industry has the capability to generate sustainable revenues that will rival the current earnings of Crude Oil, with the opportunities digital transformation has created for tourism businesses and destinations.
In a keynote address, the Enugu State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mr Ugonna Ibe, said that for Nigeria to maximize the opportunities tourism industry offers, “we must key into the high-tech based digital activities to be able to match the trending global digital technology, which has changed people’s ways of living, doing business and travels too”.
Ibe said that transformative digital technology and innovations have opened up new opportunities for Tourism businesses to compete in the global market and we must align ourselves to it.
The Commissioner, who described the theme of the event as apt, said it could not have come at a better time than now, the history of a new era of Covid19 global pandemic, when the whole world is directing her attention to the development of e-commerce/ socio-economic services.
“There is no gain saying that tourism is the fulcrum for societal development, which in essence has influenced nations to look inwards and out of the box to create and develop essential areas for global attraction and travels.
“These special areas are based on the peoples’ natural endowment (eco-tourism), history, highly developed infrastructures and obviously the rich arts and cultural activities of a people which place them differently from one another.”
While he thanked NTDC for first offering the state a hand of fellowship, for organising the stakeholders meeting at this auspicious time and for understanding the power of synergy and team-work; appealed “the cooperation is very important and necessary and must be continued to enable the achievement of the desired national development as a body in the same business and government”.
The Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Dr Ifeoma Anyanwutaku, in a goodwill message, said her ministry remained committed to providing the enabling environment for all agencies to perform optimally towards boosting the tourism sector in Nigeria.
Anyanwutaku said that while digital transformation has allowed businesses to increase their visibility on a global scale and facilitated larger coverage, urged “all the sector professionals here present to take advantage of this meeting to come out with workable and practicable solutions at the end of the day, towards overcoming the challenges militating against the optimal operations of tourism businesses in Nigeria.”
She however, noted “The most important way technology affects visitor numbers is through its possibilities to change and develop destination images. In this regard, social media is key to success. The most useful digital destination marketing tools include: data reporting, email marketing, influencer marketing, google and adobe analytics among others.
“Tourist’s expectations when visiting a particular place are related to several features of the chosen destination such as culture, architecture, infrastructure, events among others that can be accessed online before getting to the destination. These features attract tourists to the destination and contribute to the overall experience of the trip”.
