It is not a coincidence that I am today the Executive Director of this great organisation that was started by some wonderful national tourism agencies czars around 1965.

Since the day late Ignatius Amaduwa Atigbi, former secretary-general of the then Nigeria Tourist Association [NTA], now Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation [NTDC], who saw the tourism zeal and passion in my young eyes, he told me that the future of Nigeria and Africa tourism will be determined by the amount of time and space dedicated to it by the travel press, which I was new to then.

My first encounter with him at his residence in Lagos, Nigeria that later became my school for a period of time, where I regularly received lectures on the history of Nigerian and African tourism, backed by documents and photos of events from 1965 to 1975, was indeed the glue that cemented my belief in the travel and tourism industry.

 

Atigbi's journey from journalism to tourism was amazing, and listening to him describe those memorable moments that he became the vice-chairman of the African Travel Commission [ATC] with an Egyptian chairman, was exemplary.

According to him, he was the vice-chairman and after the Egyptian who was chairman sadly passed away, he took over as chairman, and thereon; ATC became the leading force in global tourism activities. It led to the transformation of the International Union of Official Travel Organisation [IUOTO], to World Tourism Organisation [WTO], and now United Nations World Tourism Organisation [UNWTO].

However, the major achievement of the ATC was not just helping in the reformation of the IUOTO, but helping in instituting that September 27th every year be celebrated as World Tourism Day [WTD], being the day the transformation of IUOTO into WTO was made possible in Acapulco, Mexico in 1970.

As we look forward to working with critical stakeholders in both private and public sectors respectively, we hope the new ATC that is now expanded to include all national tourism agencies, tourism federations, and institutions; the dream of elevating intra African tourism can eventually be achieved.

Sincerely,

Lucky Onoriode George
Executive Director
African Travel Commission [ATC]