The Managing Director, Tour Brokers Group of Companies (TBI), Uloma Egbuna has counseled Nigerian tour operators to be creative in packaging authentic and unique tours to market Nigeria as a choice destination.
Egbuna made the disclosure at the eighth Annual General Meeting’s conference session of the National Association of Nigeria Tour Operators (NATOP) in Ilorin, Kwara State with the theme “Tourism as Catalyst for Progress, Peace and Partnership.”
Egbuna said tour operators must be creative in packaging authentic and unique tour packages, different from what tourists had been used to.
She said as much as tours to historical and heritage sites were attractive enough for tourists, unique packages around experiences could be developed to further woo tourists.
“As tour operators, you need to create authentic and creative experiences that are unique to us. We can have packages around Danfo buses in Lagos.
“We can have tours packaged around tourists coming to have an experience of Lagos traffic, how to make Nigerian food, let’s stop selling just historical attractions. We need to appreciate what we have.
“Stop struggling with travel agents to sell tickets, they are meant to be buying tour packages from you.
“Achieving excellence is a goal, develop the right mindset to develop tourism. Let your customers advocate for you,” she said.
Egbuna advised the tour operators to always thirst after knowledge to improve on their trade, noting that to achieve tourism excellence and growth, the tour operators must distinguish themselves from every other person.
“Always be abreast of changes in the business of tour packaging. Be passionate about what you do, love it and run with it.
“Let your narrative about Nigeria be in the positive always,” she said.
Also, Stella Fubara, Managing Director of Del-York Development Company, advised Nigerian tour operators to further explore the power of the social media to market the nation’s tourism assets.
She said it was time the operators broadened their communication channels with their clients in the process of marketing Nigeria as a choice tourist destination.
According to her, tour operators must take advantage of the recent discovery which reveals that Nigeria is rated number one country with highest Facebook users.
She added that Nigeria was also rated among the top five countries of internet users and top five countries with the population of people that had more than two cellphones.
“These discoveries can be used to our advantage as tour operators, you need to broaden your communication channels to market Nigeria.
“The social media space is a vital tool for us all to explore to tell Nigeria’s story. We should not allow the western world tell our story, we should tell authentic stories to woo tourists.”
“I advise that you become intentional about tourism; it does not happen by accident, it never happened by accident in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, we can be intentional about transforming our marketing strategy.
“Also, don’t be scared of healthy competition, it can improve you. We should project more of the destinations we have through the social media to spur patronage,” she said.
Fubara advised against unhealthy competition, urging the tour operators to work on collaborating with other practitioners in the industry.
“Certain opportunities might not be for you but someone else, so learn to collaborate to make attractive packages,” she said.
“The western world loves what Africa has to offer. They want to come and experience what we have but unfortunately we want to imitate them by replicating their tourism offerings when Nigeria has the authentic tourism potential.
“Yam pounding experience can be created to attract tourists when we will have tourists trained on how to pound yam.
“More of such attractive packages can be created to market Nigeria,” Fubara stressed.
