Sterling Bank Plc, has pledged a N10 billion credit facility for the purposes of revamping domestic tourism in the country post COVID-19.
Chief executive officer of the bank, Mr Abubakar Suleiman, made the commitment while addressing participants at a tourism webinar organised by the Nigerian Tourism Corporation (NTDC) with the theme: Nigerian Domestic Tourism: Re-Imagined.
Suleiman, who spoke on the topic: “Investment for the Tourism Sector to Enhance Domestic Tourism,” said Sterling Bank has funding capacity and is ready to put N10 billion behind domestic tourism if the right stakeholders are available in the industry.
He enjoined stakeholders in the industry to collaborate rather than compete, saying, stakeholders need to come together to offer worthwhile experience in different aspects of the industry.
He encouraged operators in the domestic tourism industry to sit down with their bankers to build the experience together, adding that the sector is a billion dollar business.
He stressed the need to have extensive discussion with stakeholders in the tourism sector in order to scale up and advised the stakeholders to stop approaching the government as individuals but as a team so they can push for policy initiatives that would be beneficial to the industry.
Minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated that tourism assets and other social imprints in the country are huge just as tourism remains the largest employer of labour.
The minister who was represented by the permanent secretary in the ministry of information and culture, Mrs Isu Gekpe, said, the restriction in the tourism sector in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the most vulnerable groups in the industry.