Às nations across the globe celebrate World Social Media Day on June 30, the Senior Special Assistant [SSA] to the Governor of Bayelsa State on Tourism, Piriye Kiyaramo has commended Senator Douye Diri for regularly engaging the masses on his personal social media handle on developments in the polity.
Kiyaramo made the remark, when he visited the chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists [NUJ], Bayelsa State Council, Comrade Samuel Numonengi in his office at the Ernest Ikoli Press Centre, Yenagoa as part of activities to commemorate this year’s World Social Media Day.
He noted that Governor Diri has also empowered many youths in addition to appointing a sizeable number of youths as special assistants and senior special assistants on new media while others have been trained in journalism, saying the prosperity administration has consistently used information and communications technologies [ICT] to propagate the activities of government.
The SSA added that the social media has become the best way to instantly connect with friends and family, including complete strangers, pointing out that the social media has played significant role in many aspects of the tourism industry, especially in tourism information search and decision-making behaviours of potential tourists.
He reiterated that leveraging off social media to market tourism products has proven to be an excellent strategy, just as he strongly appealed to bloggers and videographers to beam their search light on the rich cultural heritage and tourist sites that abuoud in Bayelsa State, noting that the social media has made a huge impact on the tourism industry globally.
Kiyaramo, popularly known and addressed as Mr Tourism, said consumers engage with social networking sites to research trips, make informed decisions about their travels and equally share their personal experiences of a particular hotel, restaurant or airline.
In his remark, Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists [NUJ] Comrade Samuel Numonengi said in today’s world, communication network has become more efficient and informative with the use of the internet, pointing out that media can promote tourism by positively projecting the tourism offerings and appeals of the destination in the media.
Comrade Numonengi noted that the objective behind tourism marketing is to promote and make the destination stand out from rivals, attract more customers and generate brand awareness, stressing that many modern tourism marketing strategies make use of the internet, with websites, online adverts, email and social media platforms, playing a key role.
The NUJ Chairman promised to complement the of efforts of the prosperity administration under Senator Douye Diri and his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo in creating awareness of the rich tourism potentials of the state through media projections.
Comrade Numonengi, maintained a tourist destination’s image gives a unique nature, value and peculiar feature to it that gives an identity, saying that tourism marketing is the collective name given to the various marketing strategies used by businesses within the tourism industry.
Recall that tourism destination’s image is mostly accepted as an important aspect in successful tourism destination marketing. It is very important to recognize that the tourists’ perceived images, affect the individual’s perception and behavior towards destination choices.
The Senior Special Assistant [SSA] to Bayelsa State Governor on Tourism, Piriye Kiyaramo has described cultural heritage tourism as a very powerful for economic development, revealing that museums play major role, in the wider sphere of the tourism, arts and leisure industry, globally.
Kiyaramo who made the remark when he hosted the Acting Curator from the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Oloibiri Oil and Gas Museum in Bayelsa State, Adelani Rachael in Yenagoa on Friday, said museums play a vital role in the promotion of cultural and heritage tourism for sustainable economic development.
According to the SSA, cultural and heritage tourism which has to do with travelling to experience arts, heritage and activities that truly represent the stories and people of the past and present generation in a particular tourism destination.
While expressing his concerns over the poor attention given to conservation efforts in the Niger Delta region by the multinational oil corporations whose exploration activities have caused environmental degradation, he appealed to the international oil corporations to support ongoing conservation efforts of the Prosperity Administration in Bayelsa State to safeguard precious heritage in the region.
The SSA on Tourism enjoined the acting curator of the Oloibiri Oil and Gas museum to introduce innovative ideas to attract tourists to the museum, saying it was no longer fashionable to curators to sit back and expect that people will start queuing up at the their premises.
He maintained that cultural heritage tourism is one of the best part of the tourism industry, being a more powerful economic development tool for developing countries.
Also speaking, Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists [NUJ], Bayelsa State Council, Comrade Samuel Numonengi said the media will continue to project the rich cultural heritage of the people in a bid to attract more visitors to the state, pointing out that increase in arrivals will enable the state to generate more revenue.
Comrade Numonengi stated that while crude oil is exhaustible, tourism is inexhaustible, hence, the Senator Douye Diri-led prosperity administration is focusing attention on the tourism sector to achieve sustainable economic development by investing in tourism.
He said the Nigeria Union of Journalist is working in collaboration with the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Tourism to promote the abundant cultural tourism potentials of the state.
Earlier, the Acting Curator from the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, in charge of the National Oil and Gas Museum in Bayelsa State, Adelani Rachael had briefed the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on the mandate of the commission.
Adelani explained that the National Commission for Museums and Monuments [NCMM], also referred to as National Museum of Nigeria, was founded in 1979 by the Federal Government of Nigeria under Decree 77 of 1979 to be in charge of the collection, documentation, conservation and presentation of national cultural properties to the public for the purposes of education, enlightenment and entertainment.
She solicited for the support of the state government in the provision of office space for the effective operations if the commission, pending the completion of the ongoing National Oil and Gas Museum and Research Centre in Otuagbagi in Ogbia local government area of Bayelsa State.