Therefore a quality that is critical from the ongoing discussion is friendliness; little could be achieved without it. A friendly smile/ disposition would go a long way to endear our country as a favorite tourism destination. A friendly attitude as against a combative attitude, on the part of government personnel/security officers will enable them to be kind to tourists and their guides. Such disposition will enable all to protect the interest of tourists and not to prey on them, by pilfering, defrauding or outright stealing/kidnapping.
When a security personnel realize that part of his take home (salary) is probably from income generated by the nation through tourism, he would do all he could to protect such tourists by preventing harm from befallen them. And when most Nigerians realize that by being nice and kind to tourists they are actually contributing toward the promotion of Nigeria’s’ tourism industry as a choice destination, and by extension our revenue base, they will improve in their attitude.
As I write there are countries with fantastic landscapes and advanced infrastructure that could support the boom of tourism. There are countries with tourism sites that could rival the best in any part of the world. But these nations are rarely viewed as tourists’ destinations, why? Because of the hostile nature of their citizens towards tourists/visitors. The point is clear, no tourist will visit a hostile, short-tempered people, and neither will a tourist visit a crisis prone region. Tourists will rather visit a country or region with fewer infrastructures, but with friendly, honest, and easy going people, than one with all the infrastructures and bombs and hand grenades exploding every other time.
Conclusively, all of us young and old, man and woman rich and powerful and humble, we all need to put on our best behavior at all times, especially when our dear tourists are around. When we do, our tourists will not hesitate to recommend us to family friends and colleagues. What is more, they will most likely call back when they have the opportunity to do so. With this we all are directly or indirectly contributing to the growth and development of our tourism industry. Bottom line is that it will drive our revenue base up and free us from the vice like grip of petro - dollar (oil).
Concluded.
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