June 17, (THEWILL) – The Director General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), Alhaji Nura Sani Kangiwa, has charged journalists to use their various media platforms for the promotion of tourism destinations across Nigerian states.
Kangiwa gave the advice while speaking at a one-day workshop and annual master lecture organised by NIHOTOUR for the Association Of Nigerian Journalists and Writers Of Tourism (ANJET) in Abuja, on Friday.
According to Sani-Kangiwa, research has shown that the media such as newspapers, televisions among others have greater influence over the growing tourism sector than travel agents
He, therefore, affirmed that the media has a greater impact on the section of holiday spots, site-seeing among other places of interest to that of recommendation by friends.
He also informed that, due to its critical role, the media has the potential to accelerate economic growth through tourism performances.
“it is true that the media plays a very critical role. We should also ensure that we urge them to also report stories about destinations,” he stated.
Advising journalists on the need for sober reporting, Kangiwa said: “If there is a scandal or any crisis within an area, rather than embarking on negative reporting, it is very important to look into it and see how we can come up with sober reporting. This is because it will have fewer negative impacts on the entire region. And that is exactly what is called for in the Global Code of Ethics of UNWTO, as it consists to be precise, which spells out the responsibilities of various stakeholders in the tourism industry.”
Apart from setting the right track for practitioners to learn the activities in line with best practices, the NIHOTOUR boss pointed out that the relationship between journalism, media, and politics has been strong.
According to him, the Institute has been trying to ensure best practices in “our day-to-day activities in the tourism and hospitality industry.
“We have to also make sure that the people that market and report on our potentials and shortcomings in which NIHOTOUR wants to address have been taken care of.”
Explaining the essence of the master class, Kangiwa said, “This master class happens to be a parallel activity, one of the training programs linked to the gastronomy festival, which the institute started three years ago.”
The primary mandate of NIHOTOUR, he said, is to ensure best practices among practitioners, adding that, “If you really want to show how to get it done well in the right way, you have to show them examples.”
Emphasising further the importance of the media, he said, “As I said, the vast majority of holiday decisions are made by people, who have never seen destinations for themselves. They select places to go, they buy plane tickets and reserve hotel rooms based on what they have learned from their travel agents, from friends and above all, from the media.”
The theme of the ANJET annual training, which was organised by NIHOTOUR is ‘Tourism Communication: Bridging The Public And Private Sector Communication Gap.” This year’s edition was proudly supported by the National Council For Arts and Culture (NCAC).
The training programme, which was witnessed by diverse tourism stakeholders, had in attendance the Director General of NCAC, Otunba Segun Runsewe, and Mr. Peter Igho, amongst others.
Janefrances Ebere Chibuzor is a Tourism Writer at THEWILL
