HOSPITALITEA: Expert push for gender inclusiveness for national development

The HOPITALITEA 4.0 organised by Women in Hospitality in Nigeria (WIHN) brings together women and stakeholders quarterly from the hotel and tourism sector to discuss the huge benefits in the hotel and tourism industry may have come and gone.

However, this year, the organiser took the theme to a top-notch to discuss domestic tourism with the theme ‘Leveraging local experiences for hospitality and tourism growth in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, this year’s discussion is based on trends and pertinent issues as they affect the entire value chain for stakeholders to have a better understanding of how global trends and local dynamics interplay in shaping this nascent but very promising travel.

The National President (WIHN), Justina Ovat said that WIHN intends to support and unify women while empowering and inspiring them to grow and attain leadership positions in the hospitality and tourism industry.

She urged tourism and hospitality stakeholders to harness the enormous resources in local content to successfully drive the industry.

Ovat stressed, “Women are leading the narrative in the industry. However, it doesn’t mean that every promotion and marketing has to be done by women in the industry. Women need to be inspired for future successes.”

In his keynote speech, Professor of Hotel Management and Tourism, Atiba University, Oyo State, Prof. Wasiu Babalola stressed the need for government to integrate gender diversity in the succession planning policy.

He said gender inclusiveness is very crucial in the planning policy as women are beginning to shake things up.

“The Federal Government needs to be deliberate in integrating gender diversity in the succession planning policy for gender inclusiveness as this was important for the national development process.”

Prof. Babalola stressed that integrating would be used among other actions especially to develop formal policies on the appointment, recruitment beyond the traditional networks.

“The federal government must consciously incorporate the feminine hospitality concepts in its policies because identified inclusion and protection are very important to national development,” he stated.

Babalola advised that Nigeria could copy from other countries across the world, citing the United States where the Californian government had created a sanction of US$10,000 against companies that refuse to incorporate females in their board.

He said this could be replicated in Nigeria to enable the female gender to have full participation and involvement in virtually all aspects of national economic growth.

National President, Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), Mr Nkereuwem Onung urged the government and individuals to harness tourism potential.

He said, “I urged government at all levels and individuals to harness the full potential of the tourism industry as FTAN is currently working to make all tourism associations work together so as to achieve common goals.

On her part, Founder, Nene-Uwa Hub, Nnenna Fakoya-Smith, however, urged Nigeria to make a conscious effort in the promotion of its culture thereby giving it the needed package and right marketing as lots of tourists want to visit Nigeria.

She further called on each state government to engage the services of celebrities and social influencers to market Nigeria as a tourism destination of choice to local and international tourists.

In her reaction, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, said that the state invested in a lot of ideas to boost tourism activities within the state.

Meanwhile, the state tourism masterplan had been designed for practitioners to access from now till 2028. “We are open to collaborations in the hospitality and tourism industries for growth,” she said.