By Jonathan Ugbal Follow @NaijaJonathan and Monday Ogar Follow @ogar_monday
In a bid to develop the tourism sector in the nine states that make up the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, professionals and stakeholders will between July 11 and 13, 2018 converge in Calabar, the Cross River State capital for the Niger Delta Tourism Expo.
The expo is an initiative which seeks to drive inclusive and sustainable development across the local communities of the Niger Delta region through tourism and will serve as a convergence for tourism experts around the world is expected to chart a roadmap for the development and exploitation of the abundant tourism resource of the region.
“The Niger Delta Tourism Expo is an initiative put together to help explore, discover and harness the rich cultural and tourism potentials abound in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria,” read a statement on the organizers website.
It further read: “This annual event brings remarkable linkages among industry stakeholders, investors, exhibitors, buyers, consumers, tourism experts, travel experts, travel/tourism/hospitality service providers and the media to network and create synergies needed to set forward an overall pathway for tourism development across the nine states that makes up the region; Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Bayelsa, Imo, Edo, Abia, Rivers and Ondo.”
The event with the theme; “Niger Delta Beyond Oil: ‘Tourism A Tool for Sustainable Development” is billed to hold at the Tinapa lakeside hotel seeks to unravel fresh content, perspectives, new collaborations opportunities, organizers said and will have in attendance over 99 exhibitors while about 627 buyers are expected and will feature around 1,350 B2B meetings.
In a related development, the Institute of Tourism Professionals (ITP) has inaugurated a new chapter in Cross River State.
This is the second chapter of the ITP in Nigeria after Abuja and the national chairman, Mr. Abiodun Odunsanwo said he was delighted at the institute’s feat.
The Institute for Tourism Professional is a Higher, vocational and tertiary level professional organization, established to furnish the industry with professional personnel who can provide good quality standard of products and services.
And, Mrs. Justina Ovat, founder of the Calabar Hospitality House (CHH) which recently got approval from the ITP told CrossRiverWatch in an interview that it is a good deal for the state.
“We are now on the right path to ensuring that people who head and operate tourism and tourism related enterprises have industry related qualifications to match their experiences and also belong to a recognised body,” she said.
Also, she said the CHH will continue to do its job of developing manpower for the tourism sector in line with ITP regulations.
“ITP is the awarding body while CHH is the approved Centre for all ITP courses. We willl only be doing our job of churning out skilled and professional manpower making for tourism MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies) and establishments in the state,” Mrs. Ovat said.
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