NIHOTOUR DG calls for urgent need to mitigate climate change impact in hospitality sector
By Fatima Saka
The Director General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, Nura Sani Kangiwa, has called for the need to mitigate climate change impact in the hospitality sector.
The DG made the statement on Tuesday in Abuja, through the Director of Research and Development, Dr. Taiwo Famogbiyele.
He was among speakers at the 2022 Annual Master Lecture Series of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), with the theme: “Driving Global Climate Action Through Responsible Tourism/Hospitality Business in Nigeria”.
He urged that solutions should be proffered on modalities and strategies for the mitigation against the unhealthy rise of climatic conditions threatening humanity globally.
Kangiwa said that climate change is being experienced at tourism destinations in the country in the form of extreme weather temperature, variable levels of rainfall, rise in sea levels and flooding, drought and desertification and land degradation are the effects of practices that negate the principles of sustainable tourism activities, calling for the discontinuation of the trend forthwith.
In her remarks,, Sen. Nora Ladi Daduut, Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, who was represented by Mr. Isaac Aliyu, called on operators in the hospitality and tourism sector to check their unfriendly climate activities to curb the menace of climate change bedeviling Nigeria and the global community at large.
She further appealed to the participants to come up with workable documents that would enable the Nigerian tourism and hospitality industry to operate its activities responsibly without undue interference to the ecosystem as well as safeguard the environment for the future generations.
While giving her keynote presentation, Dr. Ifeoma Adaora Anyanwutaku, Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, who was represented by Director of Domestic and Eco-Tourism Promotion and Control, Mrs. Patricia Narai, noted that Nigeria is highly committed to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 13, urging countries to take urgent actions to combat climate change globally and in particular, through enforcing responsible operations of tourism and hospitality practices that are not only environmentally friendly but also sustainable.
