6th National Tourism/Transportation Summit to hold in April

The National Tourism and Transportation Summit and Expo (NTTS & E), a combined tourism transportation national event is once again about to hold from 3rd to 4th April, 2023 with the theme: “AfCFTA: Exploring Intra-African Trade, Tourism and Transportation Opportunities and Mitigating the Barriers to Collaboration” at the Abuja International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.

This was contained in a statement issued by the organizers of the event.

According to the statement, “The 2023 edition of the Summit and Expo provides yet another rare opportunity where stakeholders in the Travel Tourism and Hospitality industry as well as the Transportation sector in Nigeria, and indeed the African continent, are provided with a platform to meet and engage in a healthy dialogue for the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) beneficial to all countries within the continent. 

The statement noted that “The choice of the theme which is AfCFTA: Exploring Intra-African Trade, Tourism and Transportation Opportunities and Mitigating the Barriers to Collaboration was deliberate with the intent to deepen a clearer understanding of possible challenges and barriers that lay ahead in the implementation of the AfCFTA regime.

“It is indeed designed to be a major milestone in actualizing the full potentials of the free trade agreement towards benefiting both private businesses and government across the African region, as well as open up a great deal of discussions within the circle of relevant decision makers, policy enunciators, administrators, organizations, agencies, associations, trade communities and African countries.”

Those expected to attend the event include “key industry players, Chief Executives, Associations, Decision Makers, where the platform and opportunities are made available to interact and meet with international regulatory and policy setting bodies, embassies, regulators, employers and investors to showcase and market their products and services covering such expanse fields and business areas as Aviation, Maritimes, Railways, Airport operators, Road Transportation, National and International Traveling Communities, Hoteliers and Hospitality Operations.”

It further indicated that “Essentially, the 6th edition of the Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo is fully focused on complementing the efforts of the African Union on integrating African countries economically, through trade liberalization of the African Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) initiative.

“As a developmental program for the promotion of the ideals of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), organizers have, for three years in succession, initiated and promoted the desired areas to explore, dialogue and mainstream in ensuring that all countries of the African Continent, and indeed the host country of the Summit and Expo – Nigeria are not left out in putting the necessary parameters in place for the successful take off and implementation of the AfCFTA provisions for a unified bilateral trade operations in a single market environment that AfCFTA was established to achieve.

“As usual, the event as a whole, offers a unique opportunity for policy makers, regulators, entrepreneurs, key players in the tourism, transport, banking, insurance, Oil and Gas sectors of the economy, investors, numerous esteemed customers and the general public to engage in an All-Participatory discourse aimed at chatting the desired synergy, collaboration and connective inter-play and overcoming the challenges and barriers between and amongst implementers of the AfCFTA protocol contents for maximum economic benefits of the of the Continental free trade agreement.

“Therefore, a coordinated effort at exploring possible areas of hiccups, challenges and all forms of difficulties capable of hindering the AfCFTA take off and implementation will be tackled and solutions brought forth through collaborative and mitigating initiatives by all stakeholders in order to promote a greater understanding in participatory cooperation of the value of partnerships as implementation tools for the success of AfCFTA in fostering sustainable growth and development of the African Continent.”

The statement disclosed that “To crown it all, there will be the Tourism Transport Fellowship inductions of deserving practitioners, key players and critical stakeholders of the industry instituted to recognize and foster excellence in the Tourism industry and the related fields of operations critical to the sector.

“Following on from the induction and investiture session is the Gala Night under an environment of absolute quietude and decorum for attendees of the 2023 Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo.”