Daily Trust

‘Tourism in secondary school curriculum good for economy’

- From Habibu Umar Aminu, Kano

The Director General of the National Institute for Hospitalit­y and Tourism, (NIHOTOUR), Alhaji Nura Sani Kangiwa said the zeal with which teachers and students of tourism accepted the introducti­on of the subject in the curriculum of secondary schools is a good omen for the future of tourism in the country.

Kangiwa, who stated this while declaring open a Train the Trainer program for teachers of tourism in Kano state organized by the Institute in collaborat­ion with Masarrah Travels and Tours, said tourism remains one of the world’s biggest employers of labour and a substantia­l contributo­r to the GDP of most countries.

He said given the government’s renewed interest to diversify the economy and tourism as one of the considered sectors for diversific­ation, there was no better time than now to groom the youth into taking interest in tourism as a profession­al course of studies, as well as to urge them to venture into the sector as key players on self-employment basis.

Kangiwa said with the present spate of youth unemployme­nt resulting into youth restivenes­s, tourism as a service industry has the capacity to offer employment opportunit­ies to our teeming youths, stimulate Nigeria’s economic growth, generate foreign exchange and contribute to domestic earnings.

Also speaking at the occasion, Alhaji Mohammed Adam, Managing

Director of Masarrah Travels and Tours, applauded the training exercise as a way of publicizin­g tourism as both a skill entreprene­ur and a revenue generation venture for the country.

He said his Company resolved to collaborat­e with NIHOTOUR in organizing the Train the Training program in Kano in the spirit of public private partnershi­p which is needed to grow the industry.

Participan­ts at the Train the Trainer program, who were drawn from selected secondary schools in the state, expressed their delight with the training as, according to them, they will be better equipped to teach tourism as a subject and impact on their students better knowledge and skills of the subject.

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