Nigeria Strengthens Ties with China As Awakan Meets China Tourism Academy President in Beijing

By Justina Uzo

The Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA), Ola Awakan is strengthening
Nigeria’s tourism development, promotion and destination marketing efforts with a new phase of strategic cooperation with China following a high-level meeting with the President of the China Tourism Academy (Data Centre of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism), Dai Bin, in Beijing.
The NTDA in a statement stated that the meeting focused on strengthening Nigeria-China tourism relations, with particular emphasis on developing the Chinese tourism market for Nigeria, leveraging tourism intelligence and traveller trends, and positioning Nigerian destinations to attract a greater share of China’s outbound tourism market.

Speaking during the meeting, Awakan highlighted the need for a structured China-Nigeria Tourism Market Development Programme, which would enable Nigeria to better understand Chinese outbound tourism patterns and develop tourism products and destination-marketing strategies tailored to the Chinese market.

Awakan also called for enhanced technical and capacity-building cooperation in destination development, tourism data and research, standards, and institutional capacity development for the NTDA and state tourism agencies.

According to him, greater collaboration should also facilitate investment and business exchanges by creating pathways for Chinese tourism investors, operators and hospitality businesses to access investment-ready tourism opportunities in Nigeria.
He reiterated the interest of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu in diversifying the country’s economy through tourism.

In his response, the President of the China Tourism Academy commended Awakan for what he described as transformative initiatives within Nigeria’s tourism ecosystem.

Dai Bin noted that Nigeria is endowed with abundant cultural and historical tourism resources and expressed the Academy’s commitment to building a strategic partnership with the NTDA to support the realisation of its mandate.

Dai Bin also stressed the importance of improving Nigeria’s image and visibility among Chinese travellers and tourism operators, noting that a better understanding of Nigeria would help strengthen tourism exchanges between both countries.

“Nigeria’s image needs to be promoted in the minds of the Chinese people for our operators and tourists to understand your country better. We need to create more exchange programmes in education, training and businesses,” he said.

The China Tourism Academy also expressed its readiness to work with the NTDA towards facilitating the establishment of a Nigerian International Tourism Promotion Centre in China. The proposed centre is expected to strengthen the strategic partnership, promote Nigerian destinations and tourism products, and deepen market understanding between Nigeria and China for both inbound and outbound tourism.

The meeting was attended by the Director of the Department of International Exchange and Finance at the China Tourism Academy, Dr. Yang Jinsong, alongside other senior management officials of the Academy.

The engagement formed part of Awakan’s working visit to China, during which he is gaining insights into China’s tourism and development strategies. The visit also includes his participation in a seminar on Climate Action and the Sustainable Development Goals for Developing Countries, facilitated by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

The engagement underscores Nigeria’s growing efforts to expand international tourism partnerships, attract tourism investment, strengthen destination marketing and position the country more strategically within the global tourism marketplace.