In 2025, industry leaders warned that Nigeria’s tourism surge—festivals, hotels, and investments—expanded rapidly, yet without strategic coordination or a guiding national framework.
A reality, many warned, that was eroding investor confidence, stunting job creation, and jeopardising the sector’s long‑term viability.
At the heart of the concern is Nigeria’s failure to develop or enact a workable National Tourism Master Plan, a blueprint experts say is essential for shaping policy, directing infrastructure, drawing investment, and boosting the nation’s global tourism profile.
Femi Fadina, President of the Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria says Nigeria is running tourism without a clearly defined vision, measurable targets, or a coordinated development pathway.
Fadina says the absence of a master plan has made tourism development fragmented, personality-driven, and highly reactive instead of being strategic and sustainable.
He notes that policies changed with administrations, projects lack continuity and stakeholders operate in silos, leading to wasted resources and missed economic opportunities.
This fragmentation, stakeholders say, has real socio-economic consequences.
In spite of Nigeria’s abundance of festivals, heritage sites, creative talent and growing hospitality footprint, tourism’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)remains marginal compared to nations such as Kenya, Morocco and South Africa.
Jobs that could have been created across host communities, transport, food supply, entertainment and crafts are lost, while potential foreign exchange earnings remain largely untapped.
Fadina warns that the lack of structure has also weakened investor confidence.
“Serious investors do not commit capital where there is no long-term policy direction, enabling legal framework, or infrastructure blueprint,” he says.
For Fadina, the problem goes deeper than events, he says Nigeria lacks a unified destination brand.
“We are not projecting a consistent narrative of who we are, what experiences define us, and why we should be a preferred destination.
“Without this, Nigeria remains largely invisible in global tourism markets, in spite of its rich history, landscapes, cultures and creative industries.”
He also decries the absence of frameworks for community participation, heritage preservation, tourism education and sustainability, warning that the country is losing revenue, jobs, cultural preservation opportunities, and the chance to position tourism as a strong contributor to the GDP.
“Nigeria urgently needs to treat tourism as a serious economic infrastructure, not a ceremonial sector,” Fadina says.
On recommendations, Fadina calls for a stakeholder-driven and research-based National Tourism Master Plan with a 15 to 20 year vision, phased milestones, and tourism clusters across the six geopolitical zones.
In Lagos State,Solomon Bonu, Chairman of the House of Assembly Committee on Tourism, Arts and Culture,urges the implementation of the state’s Tourism Master Plan to reposition it as a global destination and maximise returns.
According to Bonu, the plan, already enacted into law, offers a comprehensive framework integrating transport, agro-tourism and medical tourism.
Bonu, on his part, emphasises execution at sub-national level, urging collaboration with the private sector, increased funding, accountability and integration of transport, agro-tourism and medical tourism into tourism planning.
Yet, beyond Lagos, stakeholders say Nigeria still lacks a national framework to coordinate such efforts.
Acknowledging the challenges in the sector, The Founder of Creative Naija, Frank Meke, says, “Where you don’t have a tourism master plan, it’s like operating in the dark.”
The question for policymakers as the country steps into a new year is whether tourism will continue to “operate in the dark”, or finally be guided by a master plan capable of unlocking jobs, investment, community development and national pride.
Joan Odafe writes from News Agency of Nigeria
