Tourism Icon, Otunba Olawanle Akinboboye believes that, if Nigeria wants to ensure that tourists, while visiting the country, have a lifetime experience that they will not only want to repeat, but also encourage others to experience, it needs to ensure that its’ tourism attractions and destinations, have the following five components: Attractions, Accessibility, Accommodation, Activities, and Amenities (the 5As of tourism).
He then noted that, to be able to meet an international standard of what is known as the 5As in tourism, some countries establish and develop specific tourism zones. These zones are areas in geographical form, in regions, designated by a governmental organization or tourism bureau as having common cultural or environmental characteristics.
The tourism zone usually covers land intended for different tourist activities, facilities and places. Development in the zone may range from facilities, showcasing the surrounding culture or geography to large amusement parks. Services and facilities, including tourist accommodation, shops, restaurants and entertainment, may also be located in the zone.
A planning scheme for a tourism zone may include land to grow the local economy and cater to the needs of existing and future residents and workers in the area. It can also identify the range of activities that may take place within the zone and specify how new buildings should look so that they will fit in with local character and ensure activities do not cause harm to the natural environment.
Otunba Akinboboye noted that the creation of tourism zones had been successfully used by a number of countries to jump start or grow tourism in a particular region.
He then spoke about Antalya in Turkey, which is one of that country’s most important tourism destinations. He noted that the five components of tourism were present in Antalya which leverages off nature and history, to provide one of the most popular tourism destination in the world.
In this regard, there are 4 different waterfalls in the Antalya area, as well as 3 distinctive beaches. Antalya’s old city has been a cultural and historic centre with many monuments belonging to the Roman, Byzantine and Seljuk eras. It is also the site of an Aquarium which contains thousands of fish and other aquatic animals. Antalya additionally contains a valley that is a popular site for adventure tourism that includes kayaking and para gliding. There is also a nearby a ski resort.
Otunba Akinboboye then mentioned that in 1982, Turkey enacted a Tourism Incitement Act to encourage the tourism sector through credits, tax exemptions, allocations and the provision of the ‘fundamental foundation’ for tourism. By virtue of this Act, certain areas, where cultural and natural wealth is concentrated, could be declared tourism regions, areas or centres by the (Turkish) Council of Ministers. Once an area is subject to such declaration, private sector developers would be provided with outstanding opportunities in relation to the development of the zone/area. These incentives includes the grant of a 49 year lease on land, low interest rate loans, tax exemptions, and so on. As a result, private sector investment into tourism within these zones (which included Antalya) was heightened.
Otunba Akinboboye noted that, as at September 2023 there were 2,492 active hotels in Antalya providing 612,000 hotel beds. He mentioned that 15.7 million tourists visited Antalya in 2023 while its tourism revenue in 2022 amounted to US $46.3 billion. A number of 293,000 people were employed by Antalya’s tourism industry in 2022.
Otunba Akinboboye noted that developing tourist attractions into destinations is capital intensive. He also noted that based on the competing requirements for state funding, the development of tourism zones, should be private sector driven. However, these tourism entrepreneurs would only commit their funding if it made economic sense for them to do so.
Otunba Akinboboye pointed out that, given our government’s desire to develop tourism to both a significant foreign exchange earner and a job creator, government needed to develop an operational framework that would simultaneously create clusters of attractions while assisting private entrepreneurs in their bid to develop the attractions/destinations that would drive tourism traffic to Nigeria. All the issues which are here addressed in his Tourism Product of the week number 41.
Otunba Akinboboye then mentioned that Nigeria can have a multiplicity of tourism zones throughout the country. In this regard, he pointed to the USA and noted that the State of Virginia alone has 75 tourism zones in 47 different localities.
I have to agree with Otunba Akinboboye that there would be benefit in developing tourism attractions within laid out zones as by so doing we are more likely to achieve the 5As of tourism.
”The impact of the grant of incentives and exemptions to entrepreneurs that are willing to commit their energy and money to creating the backbone for a vibrant Nigerian tourism industry should not be under – estimated. Already we have seen the impact of the Free Trade Zones in creating export focused industries in Nigeria and it would be good if we created a similar synergy for tourism,” the Tourism icon,”Otunba Olawanle Akinboboye posited.
