President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been charged to focus on making Nigerian tourism competitive as it has the potential to rival other sectors. This was disclosed by Wanle Akinboboye, founder and president of La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort, in an open letter he penned to the president. He commended the president for identifying tourism as a game changer for the development of the country’s economy by creating a stand-alone Tourism Ministry.
This, he noted is despite the chequered history of tourism, with the previous administrations relegating it to the background, while also canvassing for its retention going forward. He disclosed that, ‘‘As a tourism practitioner of over 40 years experience and having built from scratch La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort, a world renowned African tourism facility, when you first assumed office, I was particularly excited when you correctly identified tourism as a possible game changer in terms of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings and employment of youth. ‘‘I must admit that I was a little skeptical about your commitment to growing the Nigerian tourism industry based on the actions of your predecessors, all of whom, at various times, acknowledged the role of tourism in growing our economy but frankly did little or nothing to put in place a framework to actually develop a viable tourism industry for Nigeria,’’ Akinboboye said.
However, he told the president that he had a change of mind following the creation of a stand-alon.