Theme: People, Culture, Infrastructure – Building Inclusive Tourism Models for Nigeria’s Growth
Date: July 24, 2025 | Venue: Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos
A Morning of Quiet Urgency
At 8:30 a.m., the lobby of the Eko Hotels & Suites was already busier than its five-star concierge was used to on a Thursday in Lagos. Outside, cars crawled up to the entrance – SUVs, branded minibuses, a few diplomatic flag plates glinting under the soft drizzle.
Inside, the grand ballroom buzzed with polite energy. Young tourism entrepreneurs from Jos and Calabar, in custom-printed polos, huddled around flip charts. Veteran hoteliers in crisp suits compared notes about occupancy rates. A small group of community chiefs from Ogun state lined up for registration, their embroidered agbadas brushing shoulders with digital content creators and sustainability consultants from Accra, Nairobi, and Kigali.
By 8:45, ushers moved briskly, pointing delegates to coffee stations stocked with steaming jugs of Arabica, miniature meat pies, and fresh fruit cups – a small but deliberate nod to local hospitality.
The Icebreaker that Laid Us Bare
When the doors to the ballroom finally swung open, over 200 delegates streamed in under chandeliers that flickered to life like stage lights. The seats filled quickly – the front rows claimed by government aides and CEOs, while the middle rows were occupied by travel bloggers, tech startup founders, and university students scribbling hashtags into their notepads.
At exactly 9:05 a.m., the lights dipped and the house music faded. Onto the small, tastefully-lit stage stepped Elizabeth Musa, team lead at BDTV and an award-winning broadcast journalist. She wore no script, no stiff greeting. Just a single question: “Raise your hand if the best trip you’ve ever taken was here – in Nigeria.”
A smattering of hesitant hands. A few embarrassed laughs. One young woman in the third row whispered, “Obudu, maybe…” but didn’t raise her hand.
Elizabeth let the silence breathe. “The story we tell ourselves is the first story the world believes.” Then her pivot – crisp, challenging: “Today, we are not here to produce another document that gathers dust. We are here to change this answer.”
The applause started tentatively, then grew, because everyone knew she was right.
The Numbers We Can’t Keep Ignoring
Ololade Akimurele, deputy editor at BusinessDay, followed Elizabeth. He didn’t waste time on pleasantries. He carried with him what Nigerians call “the cold water.” “Tourism contributes about 4% to Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) – twice what it did a decade ago, which sounds good until you stand it beside Kenya, Morocco, South Africa.”
“In Kenya, tourism is 9% of GDP. In Morocco, 12%. In small island nations like Barbados or Seychelles, tourism is the economy.”
He pointed at Nigeria’s bold ambition: a $1 trillion economy by 2030. “If oil alone could get us there, we’d be there. We are not. So the math is simple: tourism must pull its weight – or we fall short.”
Heads nodded. Some furiously typed notes. In the back row, a pair of young entrepreneurs from Abuja, founders of a local travel tech startup, exchanged knowing looks. This was the gap they were hoping to bridge.
Stella Fubara: The Wake-Up Blueprint
Then came the voice that reshaped the mood entirely: Stella Kubara, managing director, Del-York Development Company. A hush fell as she stepped up – the audience knew her as the woman whose firm produced award-winning pan-African creative campaigns for Disney, Lagos Film City, and Dubai Tourism.
She didn’t bother with a PowerPoint. She told them stories.
“Singapore – swamp and malaria, turned into a stopover that the whole world now schedules layovers for. Rwanda – once synonymous with conflict, now the East African eco-tourism darling. Dubai – sand turned into spectacle.”
A gentle laughter rolled through the hall at her dry delivery. Then the punchline:
“None of this was magic. They told their story – and built the roads to deliver it.”
She paused, letting that land. Then she laid down her triad:
The Three Levers, No Excuses
1️. People – The Soft Power We Ignore
“Tourism does not start with tourists. It starts with people. The bellboy, the bus driver, the food vendor, the guide, the craftswoman. These are your front desk – your nation’s handshake.”
She described Del-York’s creative academies, short courses where teenagers from Makurdi learn to handle stage lights for live concerts in Dubai, then come back home to train ten more. She spoke of a young chef from Jos who now runs a Pan-African fusion kitchen in London but could do the same back home if the local hospitality sector respected his craft.
“Seventy per cent of our people are under 35. If we can’t give them hope here, they will build dreams for someone else abroad.”
2️. Culture – The Commodity We Leave on the Shelf
Stella turned the room’s attention to the intangible: “Culture is not the garnish – it is the meal. And we keep serving it cold.”
She unveiled Kabellania, Del-York’s sprawling creative destination: a film city, a theme park, a creative university, boutique hotels, museums, and heritage trails.
“We are not building buildings. We are designing a destination. Culture sells stories. Stories sell tickets. Tickets build jobs.”
3️. Infrastructure – The Dull Work That Unlocks Billions
Stella didn’t sugarcoat it: “No road? No clean toilet? No guest.”
She called out missing signage, neglected airports, choked roadways to beaches tourists can’t find without a local fixer. She painted the stakes in plain words: “We lose billions each year by locking away places people would pay to see – just because we refuse to pave the last mile.”
Her final push: “Let’s stop benchmarking what we’re not. Let’s bet on what we already are.”
The room erupted, young people first, seasoned investors next.
Hospitality is the New Oil
If Stella gave the blueprint, Karl Hala, group general manager, Continental Hotels Nigeria, made it personal. “Nigeria is not what the world thinks it is, and that is our greatest advantage.”
He told the room that perceptions, not pirates, keep people away. “One guest checks in, they spend on food, art, and local tours. They leave as an ambassador. Every good experience multiplies.”
He laid down three pillars:
1️⃣ Train your people.
2️⃣ Celebrate your culture.
3️⃣ Invest in real experiences, not just glass buildings.
“Stop seeing our youth as a burden – see them as your competitive advantage. That is your trillion-dollar pipeline.”
Panels That Brought Theory to Street Level
Breakout sessions crackled with practical wisdom:
- Wonuola Olatunde-Lamidi, co-founder/MD, Diamond & Pearls Limited: “We fly to Zanzibar for beaches we already have in Badagry and Calabar. Local communities must own, protect, and profit from their beaches.”
- Emmanuel Frimpong, president, Africa Tourism Research Network: “We have over 250 distinct cultures. Each is a potential tourism product. But you can’t sell what you don’t measure – data is power.”
- Adedoyin Fabikun, CEO, Vertiline Synergy Limited: “Nigeria’s abandoned heritage sites should not be relics — they are business opportunities. Curate them into living museums, food courts, cultural hubs.”
- Sabitu Olayinka Folami, president, National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA): “The private sector must take the wheel. The government alone can’t do it. Diaspora youth who return for Detty December should be sold roots, festivals, stories.”
A Titan’s Final Word – Danny Kioupouroglou’s Hard Truth
The day’s final mic-drop came from Danny Kioupouroglou, general manager, Eko Hotels & Suites.
He didn’t mince words:
“In Greece, one in five jobs is in tourism. In Nigeria, under 5%. Same beaches. Bigger youth population. Why not us?”
His voice softened, but his point stung: “Hospitality is not servitude. It’s a strategy. Train them well, pay them well – and they will treat your guest like gold.”
And the closer that got the entire room on its feet: “Our best export won’t be oil – it will be our warmth, our soul.”
Final Ovation – And an Unspoken Pact
As the lights dimmed and final photos flashed, the mood wasn’t the typical ‘see-you-next-year’ politeness. It was a quiet pact – that the next time someone asks where your best travel memory was made, more hands would rise for Calabar, Jos, Idanre, Erin Ijesha, Badagry, Obudu, Yankari.
What Happens Now
BusinessDay will not fold these ideas into the back pages of next week’s edition. It will track every promise made in that room, from public-private partnership pledges and local training schemes to the roads, runways, and marketing budgets that turn talk into tickets.
Because the truth is simple: If we build it, they will come.
