Lagos State Government on Wednesday said it planned to be a major beneficiary of the expected boom in the tourism industry by 2020.
It said efforts were currently being made to standardise tourism and every associated sector in readiness for the boom.
Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-Governmental Relations, Mr. Disun Holloway, said this during a stakeholders' forum and licence presentation to 79 hotels and tourism establishments in the state.
He said since tourism had become a major component of "socio-economic phenomenon with tremendous contribution to Gross Domestic Product of many nations", Lagos State was putting everything together to be part of a boom predicted by international tourism experts.
He said, "Recent forecasts indicated that by the year 2020, tourism traffic will continue to increase with tourists visiting more cities and visitors spending billions.
"Lagos as a preferred destination in the West Africa coast and emerging Mega City is poised to develop, regulate and standardise tourism and all associated products in order to reposition the industry in readiness for the expected tourism boom."
The commissioner said the state's Hotels and Tourism Licensing Authority had been mandated to regularise the operations of hotels and other tourism establishments as a control mechanism towards fulfilling the vision of the government. He added that regularising the sector was accepted by the World Tourism Organisation.
He said the government would work with the 79 registered hotels to plan, market and provide information to tourists, urging other hotels and tourism establishments to register and collaborate with government to improve tourism.
The Executive Secretary of the authority, Ms. Aduke Gomez, said government would continue to reach out to stakeholders towards creating a tourists' haven that would benefit everybody.
The President of the Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria, Chief Samuel Alabi, said the players in the industry must put their house in order to be part of the boom.
A participant, Mr. Segun Adetiba, said government must explore alternative power generation to help hotels and tourism establishments if it truly wanted to be part of the expected boom.
