Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC)
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Jul 26, 2007, 11:36

Organised Tourism in Nigeria dates back to 1962 when The Nigerian Tourist Association was formed by a group of private practitioners to project the tourism potentials of Nigeria and encourage both domestic and international tourism activities. The efforts of the association led to the admission of Nigeria as a full member of the International Union of Official Travel Organisation (IUOTO) now World tourism Organization (WTO) in 1964, and the promulgation of Decree 54 of 1976 establishing the Nigerian Tourism Board.

To meet the challenges of the times and in line with the tourism Policy, the decree was amended to give birth to the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) Decree 81 of 1992.It thus became the apex tourism agency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria charged with the overall responsibility of promoting, marketing and coordinating tourism activities in the country with the following specific objectives:

• Creating the enabling environment for tourism activities to flourish through the promotion of good standards and efficient service delivery in the hospitality industry and to facilitate investment sector.

• Making tourism a major revenue earner by harnessing the country’s rich cultural heritage and other tourism assets with an efficient, proactive and highly motivated work force.
• Standardizing and sanitizing the industry through registration, inspection, classification and grading of the Hospitality and Tourism enterprises to meet international standard and ensure customer satisfaction.
• Publicizing and promoting Nigeria’s endowments through print and electronic media/internet, production of quality brochures, flyers, guide maps, documentaries and active participation at local and international fairs/exhibitions.
• Ensuring the provision of reliable and up-to-date tourism statistical data, establishment of tourism Data Bank and implementation of Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) to assess the impact of tourism in the national economy.
• Liaising with other government agencies such as Immigration Service, Federal office of Statistics, CBN, National Population Commission, to produce Annual Tourism Statistical Data and Tourism Satellite Account.
• Identifying, assessing and documenting tourism sites bans attractions for investment and promotion purposes.
•Establishing and enforcing codes of conduct for travel, trade and business operators.
•Liaising with relevant government ministries and agencies to ensure the provision of necessary infrastructures to tourism sites.
•Providing technical and advisory services to public and private sector operators in the tourism industry.
•Planning, coordinating, assisting in the development of tourists sites throughout the country.
•Ensuring the maintenance of standards within the industry.
•Ensuring the establishment of tourism Development Fund (TDF) to provide financial assistance to practitioners and developers.
•Ensuring the promotion and marketing of the tourism products and services within and outside the country,
•Facilitating and encouraging private sector and local communities participation in the development of the tourism industry; and
•Promoting technical and professional tourism services.

The Corporation is a statutory body under the Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism with a 13 member governing board comprising representatives from the relevant public and private agencies, and a Director-General as the chief executive and accounting officer.

It operates the directorate system of administration with five operational departments viz: - Administration and Supplies, Finance and Accounts, Planning Research and Statistics, Hospitality and Travel Trade, Marketing and Promotion. Each department is headed by a director and sub-divided into divisions and units. The Package Tour and Travels division is directly under the chief executive’s office with the following service units:¬- Secretariat/Legal, Management Information System, Press and Public Relations, Internal Audit and Protocol.

To facilitate the growth of grassroots tourism, the Corporation operates a decentralized system of administration with zonal offices at Bauchi, Calabar, Kano, Lagos, Enugu, Asaba, Yola, Sokoto, Lokoja, and Jos. A zonal coordinator, who reports directly to the office of the Director-General, heads each of these offices.

The services rendered by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) are largely in the area of regulation, coordination and promotion of tourism activities in the country. These include:

•Registration, classification and grading of Hospitality and Tourism Enterprises (HTE’s) to ensure standardization of facilities and efficient service delivery in line with international standard.
•Coordination and promotion of major tourism/cultural events such as festivals to promote tourism and attract international tourists to events like Osun Osogbo cultural festival, Argungun international fishing and cultural festival in Kebbi State, Durbar festivals in the North and Riv-fest in Rivers state etc.
•Provision of technical and advisory services to state, local governments and the Organized Private Sector on tourism development matters.
•Identification, documentation and promotion of major tourist sites and attractions in each of the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT with a view to creating awareness on the potentials and investment opportunities of the Nigerian tourism sectors for domestic and international tourism purposes.
• Provision of assistance in the rehabilitation, upgrading and development of important tourist sites in various parts of the country.

Under the present leadership and in compliance with the Board’s mandate of developing and promoting tourism in Nigeria to its full potentials, the Corporation has put in place machinery to ensure that Nigeria becomes a preferred tourist destination in Africa. This is being done alongside other ancillary activities geared towards the achievement of these mandates and creating conducive atmosphere for the evolution of a sustainable “Practical Tourism”.

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