The Tinubu Think Tank (TNT), has expressed its readiness to partner with Tourism Volunteers Network to organize the 2024 Summit, a collaboration between Nigeria and China aimed at promoting the country’s tourism industry.
The announcement was made by the National Coordinator of TNT, Amb. Adewale Adeogun, during a recent meeting with stakeholders in Abuja. According to Adeogun, the summit promises to be a mutually beneficial initiative for both countries and the tourism industry.
Adeogun commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration for establishing the Ministry of Tourism, stating that the industry has vast untapped potential to generate foreign exchange for the country. He urged Nigerians to key into the project, which he believes has many benefits beyond what is currently known.
“Tourism Industry has many untapped treasures that will yield foreign Exchange for the country,”
Other partners at the meeting that cut across businesses also saw the potential in the coming summit and pledged to support it.
“I advise Nigerians both at home and in the diaspora to key into the project,” he urged.
Also speaking, the lead initiator of the summit, Amb. Phil Robert, explained that Voluntourism has many benefits that are often overlooked. He noted that tourism is a major investment in many countries and can create opportunities for everyone.
“There are so many benefits in voluntourism than a lot of us know and we are here to let you know that we are doing it on our own but we think it’s high time we got people like you to join this train. “Tourism is a major investment in a lot of countries. I used to tell people that when we say tourism is life, you don’t understand because tourism is in your everyday life. Medical tourism, educational tourism, transportation tourism, underwater tourism, food tourism and a host of others. There is so much about it.
“With the people we have here, Nigeria can start benefiting from tourism but somebody needs to make the move and that’s why we started this,” Robert stated.
Robert revealed that the Tourism Volunteers Network has been training volunteers for free and providing scholarships to some of them. He also disclosed that they have partnered with the Chinese Embassy to co-host the 2024 summit at the Chinese Cultural Centre in Abuja.
“Chinese Embassy was represented last year and this year, they called us, they said they love what we did, they saw the integrity in what we did, they saw the calibers of people that attended, they saw the resultant effects of that project, how people came and said a lot of good things about it, how tourism took a new turn, thus they want to partner with us to host this year tourism volunteers summit.
“So this year, we are co-hosting it with the Chinese Embassy and it’s going to be held here in the Chinese Cultural Centre,” he said.
According to Robert, the United Nations celebrates International Day for Volunteerism on December 5th every year, and Nigeria is joining the global celebration through this summit. The event is expected to attract participants from Nigeria and beyond, and will provide a platform for cultural exchange programs with other countries.
“In the Tourism Volunteers Network, one of the things we do is engage in some cultural exchange programs with different countries and one of the countries that has been able to accept us is the Chinese. We want people to travel from Nigeria to those places where tourism is already working and come back to our country and replicate the same,” Robert emphasized.
The Tinubu Think Tank’s endorsement of the summit is a significant boost for the project, which is expected to have a positive impact on Nigeria’s tourism industry.