The annual National Tourism and Transportation Summit and Expo (NTTS) 2025 has called for the resuscitation of local government tourism committees to ensure local stakeholders participate the development and management of tourist sites and activities within their councils. This, it says, would enhance solution pathways in addressing the myriads of challenges in the sector at the grassroots level.
This was one of the 10 recommendations of the communiqué issued at the end of the 2025 summit recently held in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The summit also called for the development of curriculum content for entrepreneurship, skill acquisition and capacity building programs that will enable youth and women to have access to needed skills for tourism business operations and investment activities.
In the area of transportation, the summit called on the government to increase investment in transportation infrastructure supported by public-private partnerships through strong synergy among all stakeholders, and also greater collaboration of stakeholders to standardize and implement effective standards and guidelines to suit the national domestic tourism sector.
Among other recommendation, the NTTS called on the government to improve national policy framework for a pragmatic synergy in various skills and capacity building programs in the development of the travel-tourism, hospitality and transportation industry.
It noted that there are various investment opportunities in the transportation, travels and tourism sectors, but the challenges of limited skills and capacities in this area has hamper the progress in tourism development.
The summit called on the government also to increase investment on digital opportunities in travel ticketing, cashless mobility and visitor analytic and digital cultural platforms as a way to grow the tourism transportation sector.
It noted that there is limited awareness and appreciation of the benefits of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) among the Nigerian populace, saying individuals prioritize traditional degrees over vocational training, leading to a mismatch between available job opportunities in tourism and transportation and the skills possessed by job seekers.
Earlier in his welcome address, the chairman of the local organizing committee and President of the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria, Chief Abiodun Odusanwo, said the annual hosting of the NTTS aims to strengthen the synergy between tourism and transportation as well as explore the interdependency among ministries, departments MDAs and private sector organization to drive inclusive growth and sustainable development of the Nigerian economy.
Odusanwo further noted that the summit has come a long way, with its communiqués serving as guides and roadmap for national policies on tourism and transportation. He said organizers appreciate and honour private and public sector participants, exhibitors, guests, speakers and collaborators for their trust, confidence and continuous participation in the summit since inception in 2018, thereby encouraging the annual hosting of the event for the economic good of the country via inclusive cooperation, collaboration and partnerships.
In her speech to open the summit, the Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Mrs Hannatu Musa Musawa, represented by the Director Overseeing Office of the Department of Domestic Tourism Promotion, Mr. Sunday Bisong, commended organizers of the NTTS for providing the platform where the pivotal needs of the country’s public and private sectors needs would be discussed in collaboration, coordination and connectivity to unlock the full potentials in tourism, transportation and creative economy, and explored actionable propositions. The minister further stated the commitment of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration in infrastructure development and intermodal transportation systems so as to enhance accessibility to the nation’s tourism potentials across all regions of the country; evolving policies that integrate all developmental parametres that guarantee intensive economic growth of the nation and help to strengthen the linkages amongst key sectors to facilitate tourism business operations at all levels.
The summit was attended by leaders, industry stakeholders and practitioners in tourism, transportation, culture and other allied services.
