The declaration of Covid-19 as a global pandemic in January 2020, has led to international travel restrictions, national travel bans and subnational lockdowns, leading to massive cancellations of tourism and hospitality services in destinations all over the world. Consequently, the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors in Nigeria have, unimaginably, taken a direct hit with attendant tales of woes including corporate bankruptcies and large-scale job losses.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has urged investors to take advantage of the burgeoning opportunities in the nation's Creative Industry, which he described as the fastest growing sector of the nation's economy, in terms of business opportunities, employment, earnings and entertainment.
The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) failed to return its unspent balance of N8.6 million at the end of the 2016 fiscal year to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), the Auditor-General’s report for 2017 has revealed.
The 2017 report is the latest by the auditor-general and was recently made public. The infraction is a violation of section 414 of the Financial Regulations (2009) which requires unspent balances to lapse with the financial year.
The latest Nigerian migration report released by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has it that no fewer than 17,616 Nigerians were deported back to the country, from across the world in 2018. Also, 22,889 foreign nationals were denied entry into Nigeria for various reasons, even as 1,044 Nigerians were blocked from travelling overseas in the same year.
The statistics were made available in the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Border Management Strategy (2019 – 2023) obtained by our correspondent in Abuja.
Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Friday, October 18th 2019, laid the foundation for the Ekiti Airport, signalling the commencement of work on the agro -allied cargo airport, aimed at boosting the state’s agricultural, tourism and educational endowment. The groundbreaking ceremony was jointly performed by the Governor and the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika.
On the occasion of the World Tourism Day 2019, the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria has called on Governments in Nigeria, including Federal and States, to diversify the nation's economy by stimulating the development of tourism clusters and tourists destinations across the country. The tourism federation spoke through their President Alhaji Saleh Rabo in Uyo, where he is representing the private sector at the World Tourism Day event organized by the Akwa Ibom State.
Grace Gekpe, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Culture, said the Federal Government has decided to facilitate research grants for tourism to boost the sector.
Gekpe, represented by a Director in the ministry, Halima Sani, said this on Thursday, at the Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria.
The Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) has recently been receiving greater public recognition and patronage across Nigeria and even internationally. The latest is the appointment of Alhaji Saleh Rabo, the FTAN President, into one of the Policy Commissions of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG). The Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria is the official umbrella body of Nigeria's organized private sector in Tourism and related businesses. The group currently has 22 federating member associations.
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