Lagos State will in December welcome over 15,000 stakeholders for a three-day tourism and cultural exhibition, designed to reposition Nigeria’s underutilised tourism sector.
The event, organised by Migbaci Expo, will attract participants from within and outside Nigeria, with hundreds of thousands expected to follow online.
According to Punch, the exhibition will focus on training, investment drives, policy agenda-setting, and interstate cultural showcases.
Speaking on the project, Akinwale Alabi, Chief Executive Officer of Migbaci Expo, said the initiative is intended to highlight the country’s untapped tourism wealth.
“Tourism is the way to go. That is why we are hosting this event—to show what Nigeria has and what we are failing to harness,” Alabi noted.
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The exhibition will feature free tourism trips for participants and strategic partnerships with both local and international organisations.
The Irish Commissioner is expected to attend, alongside other foreign delegates, making it a global event. In addition, the organisers plan to collaborate with Dublin’s Idea Hub to enhance its international impact.
Consultant Ayo Olesin compared Nigeria’s neglect of its tourism assets with how other nations have transformed cultural elements into economic drivers.
“In Germany, sipping beer is a tourist attraction. In Cape Town, their wines are globally respected. Meanwhile, we have palm wine and traditions here that we don’t promote,” he said.
Olesin described tourism as a multibillion-dollar untapped industry in Nigeria and urged a mindset shift to value and commercialise the country’s cultural and natural heritage.
Image Credit: :Lagos Website
