The Nigerian  delegation to the 2011 Arabian Travel Market in Dubai recently left satisfied knowing that the interest for the Nigerian culture continues to grow.

The Gulf countries remain very important market for Nigeria. The Arabian markets have been growing as Nigeria  become more visible in the region.

The move by Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) participate  at the Arabian Travel Market in the last four edition and its continued desire to penetrate the Gulf countries with Nigerian Culture  has paid dividends for the country, seeing increase in visitor arrival numbers.

NTDC’s  participation this year centered on marketing the country’s culture and attracting investment for the development of the country’s vast tourism potentials.

The  Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation’s boss speaking during the Nigerian Day at the just concluded  travel event said “If the volume of visitors and enthusiasm with which they trooped to the Nigerian stand are anything to go by, it will bring tourism investment funds into the country.”

“We were showcasing the best of the Nigerian culture where we had the talking drum welcoming people. It was an innovation. We were principally trying to get more investors into the country. In trying to get investors, we must have some unique products that would attract them. So far, we have been impressed by the reach in terms of contact and the number of people that came to Nigeria’s stand.

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“They were making investment inquiries in the areas of resort, amusement, parks and hotels. A lot of them have realized that major hotels are in Nigeria and are interested in investing.

“The fundamental thing is that some of them are being given wrong information about Nigeria. Every country of the world has its own challenges. Most of them have now understood that Nigeria is a very good destination and they are happy about it. 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 were impressed by the beauty of our presentation. That was why our stand became the focus of of attention”, Otunba Runsewe said.

The Nigerian stand, built in a kind of a half- moon shape and painted in the Nigerian colours, was quite impressive. Runsewe spoke about the message the country is trying to pass to the outside world: “I must tell you that I am particularly impressed that of all the African countries that participated in the fair , Nigeria stood out. We are really the giant of Africa. What we put up there was really unique. You cannot make progress without putting in great effort. I was there days before the opening because that construction required personal supervision and it paid off. We succeeded in attracting serious people to the stand. Any country that is not serious will not put up this kind of structure. To me, we just need to continue to improve on whatever we have done. We must move forward