Nigeria over the years has been source market for Ghana tourism, with Nigerians of all ages patronising the destination in droves for leisure, business, MICE, destination wedding and educational tourism. But down the line the interest in Ghana has waned as the figures have dropped significantly except for educational tourism which still remains strong. However, there is a new move to reverse the present trend as some of the noted operators in the country who have noticed the slid over the years and desirous to once again have a foot hood in Nigeria and Africa markets have set in motion a process to reset the country’s tourism with focus on Nigeria and the West coast of Africa that were once the strongholds of the country.
This move is being headed by a renowned Ghanaian hotelier and tourism investor, Herbert Acquaye, who has put a team of committed operators together, alongside a marketing communication and advertising firm in Ghana, Now Available Africa, to engage with stakeholders in Nigeria in order to reset the country’s tourism agenda. To this end, the team led by Acquaye, with Emmanuel Amankwah and Emeka Bamidele, both of Now Available Africa, were in Nigeria during the week were they held two consultative sessions with some selected tourism operators in Lagos and Abuja. With the session in Lagos, tagged; Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) engagement, the twin objectives for the new move by the Ghanaians were set forth by Acquaye. According to him, there has been haphazard approach from the Ghanaian end to Nigeria market and not just only Nigeria but Africa market.
To this, he said there is need to change the focus with more attention paid to Nigeria market, West region and Africa in general because of the affinity that the country shares with the people and other factors that make accessing the continental market easier with the prospect of high numbers generated by the market as in the past years. According to him, the two folds developmental objectives of the project are: To create a media campaign that will help drive this developmental project; and Develop campaign and implementing a programme for stakeholders’ engagement in Nigeria, targeting the MICE and leisure markets. Amankwah also offered further explanation on the new move, which has seen his company come into the picture to work with the Ghana Ministry of Tourism and others to reset its tourism agenda especially in reference to Nigeria, saying that: ‘‘We have done poorly with Nigeria market and we want to reverse this trend.’’ Adding that: ‘‘If we have a well coordinated programme between us we should be able to bring in a lot of benefits.’’
In essence, the move is to create a platform that will be a win – win for Nigeria and Ghana. He further revealed that the expectation is for the outcomes of these engagements to be made into a working document which would be shared with both the public and private sectors, however, with the private sector driving the process, as tourism thrives best when it is driven by the private sector. To drive home the importance of Ghana/ Nigeria relationship, Bamidele screened a short video in which he highlighted the traditional ties and common heritages shared by both countries, stating that: ‘‘Our similarities far outweigh our differences. We have so many things in common.’’
Given this, Acquaye made a special appeal, saying: ‘‘Help us to improve our performance in target areas not only in Ghana but in Nigeria. Our discussions must be well focused to achieve something that will benefit us.’’ For the Nigerian stakeholders at the event, the new move by Acquaye and his team, was commended with the assurance that the needed cooperation and actions required by them to realise the set objectives would be unalloyed, as both countries stand to reap the benefits.
A fruitful discussion then followed after the introductory session with speaker after speaker pointing out a number of challenges, factors and elements that need to be carefully dealt with in order to make progress. Summing up the engagement for the day, the South West Zonal Coordinator of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Rotimi Aiyetan, described it as forthright and insightful while stressing the need for it to be a continuous process. ‘‘This engagement should continue because it will benefit the two countries,’’ he said. While Acquaye said: ‘‘I find it a storming session, revealing and insightful listening to those critical issues being raised. It was quite a learning process for us. We shall also engage those in Accra as our target needs to be refocused.
‘‘I am stirred by some of the issues that have come out from our discussions. This is an eye opener, we shall continue this in Abuja and Accra and hopefully, we shall share the outcome with us. The industry has to be made to work and if that has to been we have to share this with the public and private sectors.’’
TRY IT TONIGHT!!! —
Abuja Civil Servant reveals (FREE) secret Fruits that Increased his Manh0d size, gives Stronger Erections and ends Premature Erection in 7days…
Like this:
Like Loading…
Related
