The Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) has urged Nigerians to portray the country in a more positive light before the international community.
This, the corporation said, should done by all well-meaning patriotic Nigerians in spite of the myriad security challenges facing the country, all in a bid to promote tourism.
The Zonal Coordinator, NTDC, South-East, Mrs Annette Ibeh, who made the call on Friday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu, noted that many countries in the world were experiencing insecurity ranging from armed robbery, kidnapping and banditry.
She, however, noted that tourists were still trooping to those countries” because of the manner their citizens project their country.”
” If the country really wants to overcome the challenges, we have to speak well of Nigeria and her citizens. In every endeavour in life, there is a risk, but we cannot overlook the enjoyment driven from it.
“That some fun seekers and persons were killed in an hotel and other tourism sites is not enough reason to undermine the importance of tourism in people’s lives.
“Nigeria is not the only country that is not secure. We need to say positive things about our own country. This is because we don’t have any other country than Nigeria and we can use digital platforms to propagate good images of the country.
” If we showcase it in a negative way, foreign tourists that will like to visit will not come, so, we need to love our country”, Ibie said.
She explained that it was a joint task to curtail insecurity by being vigilant and ensure information sharing within the tourism environment.
Ibeh further urged Nigerians to be their brother’s keeper by reporting of suspicious movement around tourism and hospitality facilities.
Doing this, she said, would help fight the menace of insecurity, urging, ” government should provide an enabling environment, while the individuals make it to thrive.”
The coordinator stressed, ” development and upgrade of tourism sites are not the only responsibility of the government alone, as it is private sector driven.”