In a bid to promote domestic tourism in Nigeria and encourage Nigerians to take their holiday or weekend break with Nigeria, the Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC),
Mr. Folorunsho Coker expressed his readiness to form a strong synergy with Airline Operators of Nigeria to ensure development and promotion of the Nigerian Tourism industry.Coker said this while receiving the Chairman of the Airline Operators of Nigeria, Mr. Nogie Meggison whopaid a courtesy visit to the Director General at the Tourism Corporate headquarters in Abuja recently.
In his speech, Coker stressed that affordable air travel is key and indispensable in building the tourism economy.
He reiterated his commitment to promoting domestic tourism in Nigeria, by exploring packaged tours and digital technology to drive the consumption of the tourism assets in the country.“This is why NTDC finds it important to establish a strategic partnership with Airline Operators of Nigeria to create affordable air fares within inclusive packages
in order to boost domestic tourism. We seek discountedweekend airline tickets to Abuja to propel the success of ‘#MyAbujaWeekend’ Project, further encouraging the travel businesses and promote hospitality and tourism services in capital city of Nigeria”, he said.
While speaking on how to drive domestic tourism, the NTDC boss said the key component to tourism which according to him are travel, accommodation and entertainment/hospitality would be explored with the airlines, hotels, car hire services, tour operators and others to bring out affordable package tours to encourage Nigeria to tour Nigeria.
The NTDC Boss who called for a conscious investmentin the promotion of domestic tourism appealed to everyone in the value chain of tourism, state and local governments and the private sector to work together and be ready to drive the market with a new brand TOUR NIGERIA.
Meggison in his response, expressed the readiness of the association to partner with NTDC to ensure aggressive promotion of tourism in Nigeria, thereby making Nigeria the cheapest holiday destination for Nigerians initially.
