Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed , Tuesday , expressed the concerns of the President on the failure of the country to make Tourism a desireable revenue earning sector amd the state of the tourism sites.

The Minister revealed this during a press conference, assuring that "President  Buhari  is not only passionate about the development of tourism potentialities of this country but has more than a passing interest in making it another revenue generation sector.”

He pointed out that the president has charged the ministry to ensure the enhancement, enrichment and reactivation of the sector in alignment with the vision of his government.

The minister said that in line with the vision of the president, the ministry has gone back into its strategic closet, held a stakeholders summit in Abuja, embarked on investigation and research, consulted widely and sought for international networking and “it is necessary to feed you back and seek your cooperation, support and understanding in this effort of getting the best out of tourism”.

He reminded tourism media practitioners of their inestimable contributions to tourism development in Nigeria: ‘I beseech you today my colleagues in the tourism pen profession not to be complacent and disillusioned. You have done great in the past; you have to do greater now. Our purpose should be development journalism and reporting. We should not be a megaphone for international interest which is bent on highlighting the negatives of the nation while down playing and blurting out the positive.”

Alhaji Mohammed also revealed that, with the desire of the President at injecting vibrancy and advancement in the tourism sector, President Buhari has decided to reactivate and reignite the Presidential Council on Tourism (PCT) which was inaugurated by ex- President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“I am happy to inform you that President Buhari has given a nod for the resuscitation of the Presidential Council on Tourism. You all know what that means. It is a council which will be presided over by the president himself with other tourism minded state governors, strategic tourism related ministers, Ministers of Finance, Works, Aviation and others. It is a Presidential Council solely for the advancement of tourism and cultural matters. Matters affecting tourism development will be exhaustively discussed, analysed and solutions proffered and implementation set in process.”

Alhaji Mohammed  pointed out that: “The resuscitation of PCT  is the affirmation  that President Buhari is absolutely concerned, willing and ready to salvage the tourism industry”.

He further disclosed that: “The enhancement of Domestic Tourism is the thrust of our tourism agenda. We have more than enough to showcase. From Lagos to Ondo to Lokoja to Maiduguri and from  Port Harcourt to  Enugu Cross River, Benue to Kano and Kaura Namoda, there are countless domestic tourism ingredients and sites in culture, art, monuments, heritage,  geographical  and history which we have determined to celebrate as fun, entertainment but also  package and showcase as economic assets not only for the people but for  the government at all levels.”

According to him, revealed that “in our stride at ensuring a success of the above, we are going to embark on a nationwide tour of tourism sites in every state. This will be done in alliance with the state governments and local governments. The states will list out its prime and pristine tourism sites and assets. This is necessary for on – the – spot state of infrastructure assessment for rehabilitation and enhancement.”

However, Mohammed lamented the Supreme Court judgement which has deprived the NTDC the right to embark on hotel registration, grading and classification, saying  “it is unfortunate that we don’t have a single organisation handling this matter. But I am assuring you that we are going to get a political solution for it. The benchmark of standards in hotels must be uniform. We understand the essence and implication of this in tourism development “

He listed the main challenges facing the tourism sector, which are adequate budgeting, lack of infrastructure, security and awareness.

“But I can assure you that, some of these need an inter – ministerial solution which is the essence of and void which the Presidential Council on Tourism will fill,