Ola Awakan, the director-general of the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority, has described structure, funding and infrastructure as key priorities for tourism development in Nigeria.

Mr Awakan stated this at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday to mark the 2026 World Tourism Day. The occasion also marked his first year in office as NTDA director-general.

“The major challenge in the tourism sector is lack of structure. If we can have the right structure in place, then we will be able to command respect,” he said.

Mr Awakan also identified funding as critical to tourism development, saying inadequate financing could limit the sector’s economic impact and contribution to Nigeria’s gross domestic product.

“Funding is critical for tourism development. Because if you don’t put money into it, you won’t get the required results and impact that it should give to the economy,” he said.

He said infrastructure was another key challenge, noting that tourist destinations required adequate infrastructure to attract visitors and support tourism development.

“For all tourist destinations that we have, if we don’t have the right infrastructure in place, then we will not be able to drive traffic to those places,” Mr Awakan said.

The director-general said NTDA was working to reposition itself beyond tourism promotion to include development, regulation, investment facilitation, destination marketing, stakeholder coordination and tourism intelligence.

He said the authority was also advancing digital accreditation and regulatory processes for tourism enterprises to improve quality, confidence and competitiveness within the industry.

Mr Awakan said the future of tourism marketing was digital, noting that the agency was developing the NITOUREY initiative as a dedicated tourism streaming platform and digital content ecosystem. He said the platform would showcase Nigerian destinations, people, culture and experiences to wider audiences, while digital tools and artificial intelligence would support tourism development.

“The Tourism Dedicated Streaming Plan that we are working on aligns with my thought on storytelling to transform the tourism sector and also aligns with this year’s World Tourism Day theme,” he said.

Mr Awakan said NTDA was also working to promote Nigerian cuisine as a tourism asset through Niger Flavour, linking food tourism with farmers, processors, chefs, restaurants and communities. He said the authority’s grassroots tourism framework sought to identify, document, develop and promote tourism assets across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.

“Tourism begins in communities where festivals, crafts, heritage sites, indigenous cuisine, landscapes and stories are preserved,” he said.

(NAN)