In recent time, the performance of naira against notable global currencies, especially dollar, has not been impressive. Obviously, the free fall is of great concern to the country going by its overall impact already being felt in the economy.
But as bad as that may be, it is a pointer to the fact that Nigeria truly needs to divert its economy from its crude oil base to other sources.
Considering the country’s comparative advantage, beautiful landscape and cultural diversity, tourism and hospitality readily comes to mind as sustainable sources of revenue to the economy if developed and harnessed.
However, you need to develop skills and infrastructure in the tourism and hospitality sector in other to make them more appealing to global tourists.
The need to attract the needed investments, develop skills and infrastructure in the Nigerian tourism and hospitality sector makes the forthcoming Nigeria Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (NHTIC) imperative.
The conference is a high-powered three-day event that will bring together international hotel and regional industry experts to discuss and debate the industry’s changing landscape, and to help identify intelligent and targeted investment opportunities.
Organised by Jonel Hospitality Consulting, an integrated and comprehensive hospitality consulting company in association with Woodstarhotels.com and Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture & National Orientation, the three-day event scheduled to hold from November 25 – 27, 2015 at Intercontinental Hotel Lagos, promises to be a platform that will breed the needed change in the sector.
Speaking recently at a media parley heralding the event at Intercontinental Hotel Lagos, Brian Efa, managing partner, Jonel Hospitality Consulting, said that NHTIC is aimed at bringing together stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality sector as an avenue to promote Nigeria tourism potentials and expose investments opportunities in the hospitality sector to local and foreign investors.
“The Nigeria Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference will be a focal point for investors, hotel owners, lenders, hotel chain executives, financial advisor, real estate developers, architects, consultants, tourism and hospitality experts to cross fertilise ideas”, Efa explained.
Highlighting other objectives of the conference, Efa noted that NHTIC would also identify and critically examine the profitability of tourism locations in the country and how they can be accessed, asses the Nigerian financial institutions and how they can assist hospitality investors, examining how the link between investment and enterprise development polices and how to use them to facilitate investment in the sector, to increase awareness of the critical infrastructure challenge and how they affect tourism and hospitality investments in the country among others.
Buttressing the points earlier made by Efa,Vernon Page, chief executive officer, Hotel Partners Africa and member of the NHTIC 2015 advisory board, expressed his joy over the timeliness of the conference noting that there is no time to develop the tourism and hospitality sector than now that crude oil price is falling freely.
Citing UAE, Qatar, and even United States of America that developed their tourism to high revenue earner and big contributor to their GDP despite their huge oil reserves, Page noted that Nigeria has no excuse to neglect its tourism sector.
One way to set things right in the sector, according to Page, is NHTIC that would provide an opportunity to address complexities of raising finance for investments in the sector and the available options.
The media parley attracted dignitaries across the sector including; Hope Opara, president/founder, Eko International Film Festival and member of NHTIC advisory board, Ronke Bamisedun, public relations manager, InterContinental Hotel, Rosana Forsuelo, provost, Wavecrest College of Hospitality, and Olugbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer, Joseftrue Concepts.
However, to participate in the conference and benefit from its lined-up activities such as conference sessions, networking luncheons and conference receptions among others, interested hospitality and tourism practitioners are advised to register online on www.nigeriahotelconference.com or at NHTIC registration desk at InterContinental Hotel Lagos.
OBINNA EMELIKE
