The Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze, has said tourism offers opportunity for job creation and capable of driving short-term growth and longer-term structural change.
Akabueze who was represented at the event by his Technical Assistant, Miss Olayinka Babalola, said this in a presentation entitled, “Financing as a Catalyst to Sustainable Tourism Development’’ at the 20th Annual General Meeting and Election of the Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria.
He noted that tourism was recognised in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) as one of the ingredients needed to achieve economic growth.
According to him, tourism’s contribution to 2016 GDP in Nigeria was less than half the world average but significantly higher than the Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) average.
He said the sector’s contribution to employment was relatively closer to the world average but significantly higher than the SSA average.
“By addressing under-developed infrastructure, security challenges, lack of attractive options for vacationing at home, and insufficient investment, the sector is expected to contribute to government revenues and foreign exchange earnings,’’ Akabueze said.
