Hospitality and Tourism Management Association of Nigeria (HATMAN) is the professional body for the international hospitality industry. With about 5,000 members in 36 States and the federal capital territory, HATMAN was established in 1996, recognized throughout the nation as the body bringing together professionals from Hotels, Catering, Travel and Tours, Aviation, Hospitals, Education, Armed Forces and the Teaching Profession. In this interview with JOHN OBA, HATMAN’s National Public Relation Officer, Mr. Charles Olufemi Folayan, expresses confidence that Nigeria can survive without crude oil if the hospitality and tourism Industry is well handled.
As Nigerians joined the rest of the world to mark the 2015 world tourism day, what is the place of Nigeria in hospitality and tourism development?
I believe we are improving and hopeful that we will speed up action this time around since it has become imperative for us to diversify our economy as a nation.
It’s no longer news that many countries of the world generates large percentage of their revenue from hospitality and tourism management, but the case is not the same in Nigeria despite our conducive weather suitable for visitors and relative peace in most parts of the nation , We have population of over 150 million people with many tourism site, rich cultural heritages and festivals capable of providing jobs, generate revenue through income tax, property tax, company tax and duties on commodities and services rendered to tourist which can also contribute immensely to the country economy even above oil, if well handled.
Its unhealthy for us as a nation that we live on revenue majorly generating from oil, and that’s why when there is any drop in oil price our economy is drastically affected, this is not sustainable for us and it’s a threat to the entire Africa.
Today, the tourism and hospitality sector of the country contributes little or nothing to the GDP. In 2010 the contribution of the sector to the GDP was 1.4 per cent and rose to 1.5 per cent in 2013 and has remained the same till date according to data from World Travel and Tourism Council.
What can you say are the challenges facing Nigeria’s hospitality and tourism sector?
First is the lack of political will on the part of government at various levels, the previous administrations have designed several policies on tourism development but i perceived that those policies were not well driven, most especially when it implementations does not involve the professionals, most times it is usually politicize and this has caused a lot of damages and waste of resources, efforts and time. Our country today has various department, agencies and parastals established to develop the hospitality and tourism sector but many of them are under-funded, they were not given good attention in budgetary provision, hardly can these agencies organise a solid festival or do major upgrading of our tourism site
We have lots of tourism site in Nigeria that are not developed and has no correspondent facilities which make them unattractive for tourists.
Many tourism sites are not even accessible because of bad road networks which make it very difficult for us to attract private investors to such site
The standard of our education and school infrastructure also affects our education tourism, Nigerians today spend more on foreign education than we receive, its very hard to see foreigners coming to Nigeria to school but Nigerians spent heavily in sending their children abroad to school because of the standard, It means we spend more resources for others than we receive
What are you doing as a professional body to improve the sector in Nigeria?
First is education, as a professional body we have continued to advocate and practice standard education, skills, character and creativity among our members through trainings and workshops, we have continue to monitor activities and encourage excellence among our members, we are serving as appropriate role models for practitioners and encouraging improvement in various practices which translate to offering the public better and standard services most especially to meet up with global standard.
Reports indicated that the aviation and travel sector is already the second largest employer in the world, with huge potential for further job creation. Travel and tourism is forecast to employ 338 million people by 2023 and aviation and aerospace an additional 58 million people. Yet the industry has difficulties in attracting technical and managerial expertise.
Our major focus as a body is to build strong human resources and networks to contend with emerging realities and assist both private and public sector to succeed.
We engage in training our student members not just to rely on basic theory and practical in school but to also make innovative steps and develop needed skills.
What recommendation would you give to the current administration on the development of the hospitality and tourism sector?
Its imperative for government to carry out a thorough review of this sector especially the current stage, problems, prospects and then develop the political will to employ capable and professional hands to develop the sector.
There have being much talk about diversifying our economy, I think this is the best time for the government to take action and the action should include better funding for relevant agencies to upgrade and do better jobs, we must start building a Nigeria without oil.
Also, without the availability of good infrastructure such as good transportation facilities (Road, Rail, Air and Water ways) as well as Security and electricity, it will be very difficult to attract private investors. One of the major steps the government at all level must take is to provide these infrastructures so as to naturally open up the business
Lastly our local government system must be empowered and allow to function properly so as to allow better action on local tourism site development and provide opportunity for revenue generation at the local level.
