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HASSAN ABDULLAHI ZAKARI: ATPN’s primary purpose is to promote domestic, inbound tourism to Nigeria

Hassan Abdullali Zakari is the chief service officer of MICE Africa and president of the Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (ATPN), he spoke with ANDREW IRO OKUNGBOWA on placing the hitherto, moribund association on a new pedestal and sundry issues affecting the development and promotion of tourism in Nigeria

Background

Hassan Abdullahi Zakari, who is the chief service officer of MICE Africa, hails from Egume town in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State. A graduate of Business Administration from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Zakari has a certificate in Travel and Tourism Management from the University of Queensland in Australia. He is presently undergoing a Masters’ degree programme in Tourism Marketing and Management.

Sojourn in tourism

Zakari is one of the few tourism operators in Nigeria who had the privilege of been exposed to a career in tourism at a very young age. He said: “My career in tourism started in 1997, while I was at the University in Zaria. As an executive member of AIESEC (International Association of Students in Economics and Management), we would plan and execute study tours for our members from Zaria to Cote d’voire on an annual basis. “Upon graduation I teamed up with Victor Enwezor to start tour operations as a business and that gave birth to Leisure Afrique. Today, we have grown and birthed many businesses across the various tourism ecosystems and contributed to the development of tourism in Nigeria. I also worked in the banking industry for about eight years before retiring to face tourism full time.”

A call to service

He sees his recent election as the president of ATPN, which is the oldest association and progenitor of tourism associations in Nigeria, as an opportunity to serve and contribute his quota to tourism development and promotion in Nigeria. He said: “I am happy to be given an opportunity to contribute to the development of our industry and I feel challenged to be on the driving seat to finding solutions to the many problems facing tourism in Nigeria. “To me, this is a recognition of the work that we have done in the tourism space and the experience we have to share with colleagues in the industry.” Scope of membership, focus of ATPN According to him, “ATPN is a member- driven professional, voluntary trade association established in 1990 with the primary purpose of promoting domestic and inbound tourism to Nigeria. “ATPN’s objectives includes; promoting the development of domestic and inbound tourism in Nigeria, to co-operate with government organisations and their various agencies regarding government policy on tourism. It is to promote the virile development of the tourism industry, to establish and enforce a general code of conduct for tourism practitioners and to generally enhance an effective facilitation of the working of tourism industry. “The association has members in state chapters all across Nigeria and it is managed by a committee of tourism experts with a passion for the tourism industry.’’

ATPN is not moribund

For a section of the tourism sector, ATPN has outlive its useful and long been consigned to the backwaters of history following the coming into existence of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), which now serves as the umbrella body for the private sector and that the resuscitation of ATPN by a few operators is only to seek for relevance and attention, however, Zakari says this is not correct, insisting that ATPN is not seeking relevance of any sort. “It is very uncharitable to say that one’s father has outlived his usefulness because he gave birth to a child. No matter how good the child may be, he will always need the father to show him or her, the way in life else the child may go astray. “Whether they take us serious or not, it does not remove the fact that we are working to make the industry better for every stakeholder in it. We are not bothered with what people think or say but focused on achieving our set aims and objectives. “Attention and relevance are things that you don’t seek but earn. When you begin to seek attention or relevance, it means that you are not good at what you do because if you are good, attention will come to you and you w i l l become relevant. “We are focused on delivering value to our members and when you give value, attention and relevance will come to you. Our focus is value addition to our members’ businesses and the tourism industry in general. We are not bothered with side talks.”

Challenges ahead

Zakari acknowledges the challenges ahead as daunting but not insurmountable, as he listed the major ones to include that of harmonisation, knowledge and policies gaps, even as he expressed the determination to forge a pact with other associations and operators in resolving them. “The challenge is how to harmonise the various dissenting voices in the industry and how to standardise tourism practice in Nigeria. As an easy entry industry, you find all sorts of individuals practicing tourism without the requisite licenses and knowledge. “So, a major challenge is setting standards and bridging the knowledge gap in the industry and I believe that with adequate and meaningful collaborations, we can surmount these challenges and bring about development of tourism in Nigeria for the benefit of all stakeholders in tourism. “Another major challenge is on the part of the government in terms of legislation and support for the industry. “Therefore, we have to find a mutually beneficial way to meaningfully engage the government to enact laws and policies that will aid the practice of tourism especially as contained in the National Tourism Development Master plan.”

Our aim is to promote domestic tourism

To give vent to the development and promotion of domestic tourism in Nigeria, the ATPN president advocates for focusing on the country’s areas of comparative strengths, such as Nollywood, music and creative industry. “There are many ways to develop and promote domestic tourism in Nigeria. The first is to have a plan (which we already have) and implement it. A key component of the plan should be a conscious and deliberate effort to sustainably promote domestic destinations using our areas of comparative advantages like the Nollywood, music and the creative sector as a whole. “Our movie scripts need to be talking about going on a vacation to Yankari, Obudu, Fifth Chukker, Porto Golf or Abraka Turf instead of talking of Dubai, Paris, London or Disney World. These places I mentioned can offer us memorable vacation experience comparable to their peers around the world and there are many of such places scattered around the country.”

Develop domestic tourism policies

“To further aid the development of domestic tourism, we need to initiate domestic tourism policies to deliberately and sustainably promote domestic travel by incentivising government reward system towards tourism activities like offering all-inclusive holiday packages to domestic destinations as incentives to civil servants. “Private sector can also be mandated or advised to do same to stimulate travel within Nigeria in aiding domestic tourism. When you have a reward system like “Best Staff of the Month/Year”, let the reward be an all paid vacation to a tourist destination in Nigeria instead of abroad. “This way, we can develop our domestic tourism for the benefit of our communities and the country at large because tourism has the largest economic multiplier effect than any other sector and it delivers directly to the most vulnerable in the society.”

Immediate review of tourism’s master

plan “Above all, we need to immediately review and implement the National Tourism Development Master Plan in a “chronological order” as advised by the consultants/ developers of the plan. It is common knowledge that ‘if you fail to plan, then you have planned to fail’. Without a plan, we will just be taking an aim in the dark without a focus. These are just a few of immediate steps that need to be taken in developing domestic tourism.”

We need to remain resilient to overcome COVID -19 With the damning effect of COVID – 19

on the tourism sector, Zakari says operators need to be strong and resilience as well as innovative in order to stay afloat even as he calls on the government to be proactive in its response to the situation. “To my private sector colleagues, remain strong and resilient because these times shall pass. We have gone through similar situations in the past with Bird Flu, SARS, Ebola, 9/11 and many others but we survived. “I know that we can achieve so much if we come together as one as we have seen with the vigorous promotion of domestic tourism in the past eight months or thereabout. “The numbers may not be encouraging but persistence and volume will increase your returns. Let us all adhere to all safety and hygiene protocols and remain safe because tomorrow is pregnant with good tidings for tourism. “To the government, we thank and appreciate the survival fund initiative but our case in the tourism industry is peculiar because we are the worst hit. We need financial support for the businesses themselves beyond the survival fund. “Above all, we also need a timely removal of the quarantine protocol when the time is ripe so that our businesses can bounce back. Our industry will need a dedicated fund for tourism businesses to draw from to keep their businesses alive.”

Funding is an albatross

If there is one major challenge being faced by tourism operators, he says it is funding, imploring the government to as a matter of urgency establish a funding mechanism for the sector. “In my view, the major challenge of private operators is funding. If this is addressed, with proper legal framework and monitoring as well as training, most private operators will thrive. “This can be addressed with the creation of the Tourism Development Fund (TDF) as contained in the master plan. You see why I said the master plan is the key to tourism development.”

Placing ATPN on the highest pedestal

If there is one goal that Zakari is passionate about, it is that of placing ATPN on the highest pedestal during his tenure. “My personal vision for ATPN is to see an association that will be the most recognised and sought-after endorsement of good business practice and tourism policy issues in the Nigerian tourism industry.

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