As Eko Hotel & Suites marks its 50th anniversary, veteran hospitality and tourism stakeholder, Chief Sam Alabi, reflects on the evolution of tourism in Nigeria and Africa, the role of the organised private sector, industry associations, government responsibilities, and the future of tourism as a strategic economic driver. He speaks with Dr. Lucky Onoriode George. Excerpts:
As Eko Hotel & Suites celebrates 50 years, how do you assess the journey of tourism development in Nigeria and Africa?
The journey has been both challenging and inspiring. Across Africa, tourism growth has not happened by chance. Progress has largely been driven by an organised private sector that continues to invest, innovate, create jobs, and deliver quality visitor experiences.
The tourism ecosystem comprises hotels, airlines, tour operators, event companies, restaurants, transport providers, and creative entrepreneurs. Together, they transform our natural, cultural, and historical assets into real economic activity and sustainable revenue streams.
While governments provide policy direction, infrastructure, and security, it is the private sector that supplies the energy, innovation, and capital needed for growth. The future of African tourism depends on stronger public-private partnerships, innovation, sustainability, and respect for cultural authenticity.
Why do you describe the organised private sector as the engine of tourism growth?
Because tourism is fundamentally a business-driven industry. The organised private sector is responsible for creating products, attracting investments, employing people, and delivering experiences that visitors pay for.
When tourism businesses operate within strong associations and collaborative networks, they improve service standards, strengthen destination branding, attract investment, and support long-term industry resilience.
Tourism’s impact goes beyond hotels and airlines. It empowers youth, women, local communities, artisans, entertainers, and small businesses. It stimulates economic activity across transportation, hospitality, culture, entertainment, and crafts.
What role do industry associations play in tourism development?
Industry associations are essential because they create unity, structure, and influence within the private sector. Individual businesses may struggle to influence policy or solve industry-wide challenges, but collectively, associations become powerful platforms for advocacy and reform.
In Nigeria, the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria serves as the umbrella body coordinating tourism associations and engaging government on matters such as infrastructure, taxation, regulation, security, and investment incentives.
Associations also promote ethical standards, professional development, fair competition, and stronger stakeholder engagement. Strong associations create the framework that makes sustainable tourism growth possible. When the private sector is organised, tourism growth becomes more than a possibility, it becomes inevitable.
What does government owe the tourism sector?
Government’s primary responsibility is to create an enabling environment where tourism can thrive sustainably.
This begins with infrastructure, good roads, efficient airports, reliable electricity, digital connectivity, effective transportation systems, and clean environments. Tourists may come because of attractions, but they stay because of comfort, convenience, and safety.
Government also owes the sector policy consistency, security, destination branding, investment incentives, and support for skills development. Most importantly, governments across Africa must stop viewing tourism merely as a leisure activity and begin to recognise it as a strategic economic development tool capable of generating employment, foreign exchange, and enterprise growth.
Question 5: What does the tourism industry owe itself?
The industry owes itself greater unity, professionalism, and collaboration. A destination’s reputation can rise or fall based on visitor experience. Therefore, operators must continuously improve service standards across hotels, tour operations, transportation services, and event management.
The industry must also invest more in human capital development, innovation, technology, digital marketing, sustainability, and eco-tourism. Most importantly, stakeholders must embrace collaboration rather than unhealthy competition.
What should a viable African tourism policy look like?
A successful African tourism policy must go beyond slogans. It should provide a coordinated framework for inclusive economic growth.
Such a policy should focus on infrastructure development, simplified visa processes, stronger regional connectivity, public-private partnerships, tourism financing, skills development, sustainability, digital transformation, safety, and destination branding.
Countries such as Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania have demonstrated tourism’s ability to contribute significantly to GDP and economic growth.
In Nigeria, tourism’s contribution is often underestimated because official statistics tend to focus mainly on hotels, food, and beverages, rather than the broader tourism value chain. In reality, after agriculture, travel and tourism remain among the largest employers of labour in the country.
Are tourism associations drivers of growth or gatekeepers of progress?
They can be either, depending on how they are governed. At their best, associations unite fragmented players, influence policy, improve standards, encourage investment, and promote professionalism.
However, when associations become overly bureaucratic, poorly governed, or resistant to innovation, they can slow progress and discourage entrepreneurship.
Where associations are inclusive, democratic, transparent, and forward-looking, they accelerate growth. Where they focus on control rather than collaboration, they risk becoming obstacles.
Ultimately, their effectiveness depends on governance, accountability, and transparency.
What specific roles do FTAN and HOPESEA play in the tourism industry?
Both the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria and the Hotel Owners and Managers Association of Lagos State share a common objective of strengthening tourism growth through collaboration, advocacy, and industry development.
However, Nigeria’s realities, including power supply challenges, multiple taxation, and regulatory complexities, require localised solutions and stronger engagement between government and industry stakeholders.
These organisations play important roles in ensuring that the concerns of operators are heard and addressed.
Looking back, what has Nigeria’s tourism industry learnt, and where did it get things wrong?
One of the industry’s greatest lessons is that Nigeria possesses extraordinary tourism assets. Our culture, music, fashion, festivals, food, entertainment, hospitality, and creative economy offer enormous tourism potential.
The growth of the creative economy, particularly entertainment, nightlife, weddings, religious gatherings, and cultural festivals, has become one of Nigeria’s strongest tourism drivers.
The private sector deserves credit for much of the growth we see today. Despite difficult operating conditions, entrepreneurs and investors have continued building and innovating.
The industry has also demonstrated remarkable resilience and adaptability in the face of economic instability, infrastructure gaps, and changing market conditions.
However, we also made mistakes. For too long, the sector remained fragmented. Hotels, tour operators, transport providers, and associations often failed to work together with a unified voice capable of influencing policy consistently.
We focused excessively on events and short-term activities while neglecting long-term destination development, tourism infrastructure, and global destination marketing.
Service quality has also been inconsistent, partly because we have not invested enough in training and visitor experience.
At the government level, inconsistent policies, insecurity concerns, weak infrastructure, and poor destination branding have all limited growth.
Question 10: What gives you confidence about the future of Nigerian tourism?
I remain optimistic because the fundamentals are strong. Nigeria’s tourism future will not depend only on natural attractions. It will depend on structure, partnerships, investment, storytelling, and confidence in the value of Nigerian experiences.
If government and the organised private sector work more closely together, strengthen institutions, improve infrastructure, and invest deliberately in destination development, tourism can become one of Nigeria’s most transformative economic sectors.
As Eko Hotel & Suites celebrates fifty years of hospitality excellence, I believe the next phase of tourism growth in Nigeria and Africa will be defined by stronger institutions, deeper collaboration, and a greater recognition of tourism as a serious economic development tool.
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