Culture, Tourism Sector
ures, and, as it is popularly known, money makes the world go round.
Art can connect culture with commodities in a way that not many other things can; art generates money but also holds significant sentimental and cultural value within communities. When people attend a concert, they are paying for music, sure, maybe even hotel rooms, meals, and transport, but they also gain an incredible experience, a unique atmosphere and a memory that will go through the rest of their lives with them. People don’t just want ‘stuff’ anymore, they want to experience life – the arts are a perfect cross over between culture and commerce.
But what are the opportunities for cultural tourism in Nigeria?
“Europe is a well-established market for cultural tourism. European holidaymakers are increasingly interested in discovering new destinations, especially if these offer authentic activities that teach them about local culture. This makes cultural tourism a promising sector for developing country destinations,” Runsewe says.
He breathes, “cultural tourism is international travel directed towards experiencing local arts, heritage, landscapes, traditions and lifestyles. It is a broad market with many sub or niche markets.”
Exploring cultural heritage is the most common form of cultural tourism among International cultural tourists. Examples of cultural tourism experiences include: architectural and archaeological treasures, culinary activities, festivals or events, historic or heritage sites, monuments and landmarks, museums and exhibitions, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and religious venues, temples and mosques.
Runsewe says the attractiveness of a cultural destination varies greatly from person to person. He, however, points out, safety is important to cultural tourists. “They often inquire about the safety of their destination. Especially safe driving can be a concern.”
John Likita Best, one of the participants at the stakeholders forum,, says, “tourism is a huge alternative for financing the country. Showing us Dubai is not enough unless we can make a Dubai in Nigeria.” However, Onifiok O. Ekong while arguing that “government is not making good use of our natural tourist attractions, such as Aso Rock, Zuma Rock and Gurara Falls, says, “tourism needs law and order to move forward. These are little things that matter because a visitor will not condone the disorderliness we condone in his country, especially in the transport sector.”
He continues, “political stability is also important. Safety is important to international tourists, especially because some developing countries are politically unstable. Most commercial tour operators don’t offer holidays to countries that their Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared unsafe.”
Alhaji Rabo Saleh, President, Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) says: “Tourism cannot flourish where there’s insecurity. Those challenges are there but we cannot look at those challenges for now. All we need to do is focus on driving our country forward and making tourism one of the things that can turn our country around.”
This has previously led to a drop in tourism arrivals in countries such as Mali, Egypt and Kenya.
But Ekong advises: “International cultural tourists look for flexibility. They increasingly want to compose their own holidays by combining separate components. Tour operators can offer flexible holiday packages with standard and optional components that customers can use to create a unique holiday.”
However, Hajia Bilikisu Abdul, President of Nigeria Association of Tour Operators (NATOP), asks: “How many of us have our country Nigeria at heart? When we tell good stories about our country, we promote our tourism.”
She urges citizens to love their country so as to “make it right in tourism, people need to have their country at heart and stop travelling for pleasure but as tourists. You don’t necessarily have to be a tour operator or be in government (to make a difference). The D-G travelled to Dubai and saw something interesting and nice that he couldn’t hold to himself. Now he is trying to sell it to us. I think if every one of us emulates him, I believe the government would look into this matter.”
By 1984, there were almost 300 million international tourist arrivals worldwide and international tourism was the second largest item in world trade. It was predicted that by the year 2000, tourism would be the world’s largest industry and its largest employer.
In the early 1980, the World Tourism Organisation became interested in defining the concept of cultural tourism, based on the recognition that, unlike recreational tourism, cultural tourism is motivated by the need in travellers for increased knowledge and new and different experiences.
The UNWTO estimates that cultural tourism accounts for about 40 per cent of global tourism.
While commending the new vision, Dr. Elizabeth Ben-iheanacho (Director, Research & Development in NCAC, says, “it was a fantastic learning experience from which Nigeria can learn from the tourism strength particularly the history and evolution of the city of Dubai from the ancient desert landmark to a fascinating tourism destination. NCAC has been exposed to diverse means by which we can manage resources that are inherent in our country. One can only look forward that Nigeria will rise and take its place as a tourism destination in Africa.”
Dr. Gerald Adewole, Director, Special Duties, reveals, “we came on study tour on culture to understudy the culture of Dubai. From what I have seen so far, Dubai is an incredible, fantastic city. In fact, Dubai is out of this world. My hope is that we will go back home, brainstorm and replicate in Nigeria what we have seen here.”
According to Mallam Ado Yahuza, Director, Human Resources Management, “it is very important to have visited Dubai, especially in terms of development of culture in Nigeria. In the last 40 years, Dubai was like a village, but the leaders were able to transform it to a very enterprising tourism hub, where people from various parts of the world now visit with their families to enjoy themselves thereby helping their economy to grow rapidly. If we can replicate this in our country, it will help us diversify our economy.”
Based on the level of interest in culture, there are two types of cultural tourists: Motivated and incidental cultural tourist.
Most people, who are motivated culture tourists have: higher education background, medium to high income, considerable interest in culture and considerable interest in social and environmental issues. Experiencing and learning about local cultures is their main travel purpose.
Motivated cultural tourists like to be prepared before going on holiday. They study the destination thoroughly and like to see and learn as much of it as possible. This group is quite demanding. These customers tend to know a lot about the destination, as they ha ve prepared their journey very well. It might have been on their ‘bucket list’ for years.
Runsewe advises, “international cultural tourists like to interact with locals. They are interested in locals’ ideas and opinions about ever yday topics. Cultural tourists don’t want to just passively experience culture. This means rather than being shown, they prefer open communication about locals’ daily lives. They like aspects of culture that are supported by the local population.”
Cultural World Heritage Sites can give cultural tourism destinations a great competitive advantage. UNESCO now has a World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Programme to help countries protect their heritage while developing tourism.