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Nigeria Calls For Collaboration Among ECOWAS States To Develop West Africa’s Tourism Sector

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Tourism potential in West Africa

The Nigerian government has called for collaboration among ECOWAS member countries to develop the subregion’s tourism potential and position West Africa to compete with other regions.

Folorunsho Coker, Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, also called for the streamlining of tourism policies in subregional countries while delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the meeting of experts and stakeholders in the private tourism industry on the monitoring and evaluation mechanism of ECOTOUR 19-29 and the ECOWAS Tourism Accommodation regulator in Abuja on Tuesday.

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Coker stated, “It is the season to collaborate, not compete,” and added, “It is in the spirit of collaboration that we will grow pan-African tourism.”

He stated, “I want to encourage the localisation of policies,” emphasising that policies can only be successful if they are localised.

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Coker said all the regulations in the region be streamlined into one that will guide activities in the tourism sector across the 15 ECOWAS member states, urging for the training of tourism operators in the region as well as the introduction of technology in tourism.

He said: “We must embrace technology or it will leave us behind.”

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The ECOWAS Commission’s Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Massandjé Toure-Liste, stated that the meeting drew inspiration from the ECOTOUR 19-29 action plan, which was adopted by the Authority of Heads of State and Government and was intended to serve as a roadmap for promoting responsible tourism.

She stated, “To this end, our technical meeting today focuses on drafting the operational modalities for two critical tools: the ECOTOUR 19-29 monitoring and evaluation mechanism and the ETAR – ECOWAS Tourism Accommodation Regulator.

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“The ECOTOUR 19-29 Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism will entail creating operational guidelines and appointing dedicated members or focal points to oversee their execution.

“Simultaneously, we will define the composition and operational modalities for the ECOWAS Tourist Accommodation Regulator (ETAR) in accordance with Regulation C.REG.2/07/23.

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“Our focus on Private Sector Collaboration includes facilitating dialogue among private tourism industry representatives and encouraging strategic alignment and collaboration at the regional level.

Massandjé, who was represented by the ECOWAS Commission’s Director of Private Sector, Dr Anthony Elumelu, stated: “We also intend to assist private sector players in finalising the process of forming a regional confederation.”

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The meeting is scheduled to end on Friday, May 17, 2024.

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