Mr. Efetobo Awhana, Organiser, `Nigeria Travel Week’, on Thursday urged movie producers in the country to promote more of Nigeria’s tourism sites.
Awhana told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lagos State that all measures must be in place to market most of the nation’s tourism sites for local and international patronage.
According to him, Nollywood had gained remarkable recognition across Africa and some other continents, which could be a veritable tool to market tourism sites to attract local and international tourists.
He said tourism sites like Ikogosi Warm Spring, Zuma Rock, Yankari National Park, Lekki Conservation Centre and more should be shown in movies to deliberately market those sites.
Awhana explained that this would leave lasting memory in the viewers and propel them to visit such sites as this should be a way of giving back to the society on the path of the movie producers.
“Marketing nation’s tourism sites should be a collective responsibility. I feel our tourism sites had not been promoted enough by our actors and actresses.
“Nothing stops us from having scenes where the beauty of Olumo Rock, Badagry Slave Museum, Ikogosi Warm Spring and the Confluence city of Kogi State are shown in our movies.
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“They can go ahead to tell the unique features of each of the sites and history behind them.
“This will go a long way in wooing tourists into the sites and we will have our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), improved as a country,” he said.
Awhana commended the producers for showcasing nation’s rich culture in most of their movies which had greatly impacted on Nigerians and foreigners.
He said that while people derive pleasure from watching movies, they were also educated and enlightened as a lot of histories were unraveled in movies.
According to him, stories surrounding how the slave trade occurred in Nigeria in different places could be relayed in movies, making references and showcasing the slave museums we have.
He also said that most of the antiquities, relics and artifacts in the museums should not be left out, saying that scriptwriters should write more stories around nation’s tourism sites.
“This will make a lot of local and international tourists develop interest in visiting most of these sites,’’ he said. (NAN)
