Nigeria’s talking drum, cultures attracted the world

Written by Duncan Wednesday, 11 May 2011

The just concluded Arabian Travel Market (ATM), held at Za’abeel Hall, Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Dubai, UAE, recorded another achievement in it bid to attracted trade visitors and exhibitors to the region, but also to rally support for  participants to tap from the global platform.

Even with the political unrest fired by the global trend of citizens yearning for change, the ATM experienced a surprise outing where Iraq amongst other entrants exhibited for the first time while prominent regional exhibitors reflected on the expansion of their exhibition space from 11.8 percent, 7.5, 3.8 and 3.5 percent respectively as a renewed business and consumer confidence in the market.

The success of the four-day event was not tied to the expertise of the organisers (Reed Travel Exhibition) alone, but also the practical support given by the government of Dubai at creating enabling environment by providing tourism infrastructure and supporting private ventures to encourage inbound and outbound travel and tourism.

Subsequently, for participating countries, the A T M readily becomes one of the international trade exhibitions that gives edge to marketing of tourism potentials to new buyers and foreign investors, which  primarily gave preference to the showcase of the totality of the Nigerian cultural pride at its fourth outing.

However,  Nigeria’s stand which was uniquely constructed with statement declaring an innovative beginning in the presentation and packaging of the sundry tourism products especially its cultural potentials of the country became a rallying point for foreign who are down to earth with African culture as they gathered at the  stand for the festival of one people diverse cultures.

The rectangular stand, embellished with the Nigeria national colours (green and white) was also beautifully decorated with roller stands of different cultural festivals, heritage sites and tourism destinations in Nigeria.

Also, different souvenirs and promotional materials were at the disposal of the visitors to educate and inform them on investment opportunities in Nigeria. Foreign tourists from different natonalities who were attracted to Nigeria’s stand, stood spell bound at the electrifying display of a talking drummer, who played all sort of local and international rhymes, melodies and also chanted the names of visitors to stand.

Meanwhile, visitors to the  stand were at home with the hospitality geature of the giant of Africa as they were feasted to some delicacies ranging from locally processed cakes, shredded meat (kilishi, Danbu nama, kuli kuli, kola nuts, among others). For those that needed further information about the tourism business in Nigeria, some private sectors in the travel , tour and hospitality industry were at hand to give out vital information complimented with promotional materials. 

Also, as part of the Nigerian Day, the Director-General, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Chief Olusegun Runsewe, who led the Nigerian delegation to the market attended  and gave out promotional souvenirs to visitors who converged on the venue to get a take away from the Nigerian stand. The level of sophistication  presented by Nigeria’s stand and composure of the its delegation  at the year’s ATM attracted admiration from visitors, but was also presented an award by Skyline University, Germany for the best innovative stand, best behaved and dressed delegation.

Speaking with the press at the Dubai International Convention Centre, the NTDC boss disclosed that the impressive outing recorded at the ATM was a statement of practical determination and commitment to make tourism the new source of generating revenue. According to Chief Runsewe, “We are showcasing the best of Nigerian culture where we have the talking drum welcoming people. It is a new innovation. We are principally trying to get more investors into the country. In trying to get investors, we must have some unique products that will attract them.  So far, we have been impressed by the reach in terms of contact and the number of people that have been coming to Nigeria’s stand.

“The area that they have been making investment inquiries is in the area of resort, amusement, theme parks and hotels. A lot of them have realised that the major hotels are in Nigeria and are interested in investing.”

To Runsewe, “The fundamental thing is that some of them are being given misinformation about Nigeria. Every country of the world has its own challenges however, those that have gone have seen that Nigeria is a very good destination and they are happy about it. So, they’ve been coming. One thing we must identify is that the Middle East tourists are not all keen about eco-tourism, they want something that is extra-ordinary and at the same time original to that community.  They are also impressed by the beauty of your presentation that is why our stand has become the focus of a lot of attention.

“I must tell you that I am particularly impressed that among all the African countries that came for this fair Nigeria really syoodout. We are really the giant of Africa. What we put up here is really unique and different. You cannot make progress without putting in great effort.

“I have been here days before the opening because this kind of construction requires personal supervision and it has paid off and has succeeded in attracting serious people who believe they can do business with us. Any country that is not serious will not put up this kind of structure that we have done. To me’ we just need to continue to improve on whatever we have done and make it better and bigger. We must move forward,” Runsewe added.

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