ABUJA – Mr Tomi Akingbogun, President, Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN) said that the association would establish its training institute in the country to facilitate tourism teaching.
Akingbogun was speaking at the ongoing 2014 Nigeria Tourism Investors Forum and Exhibition (NTIFE) in Abuja on Wednesday.
He noted that the project would also assist growth in the tourism sector.
According to him, the building project will only be actualised by support from investors who want to develop the industry.
“ The association is working toward creating a training institute and looking for people who will want to invest with us.
“We need to do our job to the level that international organisation will begin to envy us.
“Country like Kenya have a teaching hotel that is about 45 years old and in Nigeria, we are yet to have one,’’ he said.
He called for support from various relevant stakeholders to grow the tourism sector, while urging government to create an enabling environment for private sectors.
“ We have been talking about tourism fund, but the problem is that, if we wait for the government, we will never get anything.
“But the issue is that, we cannot do it alone.
“The usefulness of government is to create an enabling environment for the private sectors to grow and also for our business to thrive.”
Akingbogun condemned the rate at which banks enslave investors in the area of bank loans.
“The issue of high cost of bank loan of between 28 and 30 percent is posing threat to investors in the sector, especially investors in the hospitality industry.
“There is no way we can grow our tourism sector if there are threats from the banks,’’ he said.
He solicited for more supports as several submissions to ministries, commercial banks; central bank was underway to fast track the building of the training school. (NAN)