Nigeria is aiming to contribute more to the growth of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2010 with improved tourism sector.
Olusegun Runsewe, director-general of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), disclosed this to reporters in Abuja on Wednesday. The increased contribution would come from all the tourism sub-sectors, he said.
According to the director general, the increase would particularly come from religious tourism which, he said, had recorded some significant growth in the last two years.
"We are looking at 2010 when we expect our GDP to increase by at least 1.5 percent from the 2.5 percent we had last year," the News Agency of Nigeria quoted him as saying.
"In 2009, about 50 billion naira (around 337 million U.S dollars) was recorded from tourism and this includes the over 148 flights into Nigeria, the number of people who stayed in hotels and the money spent," he added.
This is not a bad figure for a country that has taken tourism very seriously, he said. Runsewe described 2009 as encouraging and impressive, adding that 2010 would even bring more exposure and benefits to Nigeria.
"Religious tourism increased to about 40 percent in 2009 and that helped a lot in increasing the number of flights coming into Nigeria. So, 2009 had been encouraging and impressive," the official said.
He said the federal government should revamp the country's infrastructure to enable it to achieve its tourism targets this year. He appealed to all the stakeholders in the sector, particularly the states, to collaborate in developing tourism and tourism sites across the country.