Nigeria’s leading amusement park and resort, Omu Resort, has unveiled “Project 45 days of Christmas in Delta”, a multifaceted initiative geared towards positioning Delta State as a global tourism destination.

At a news conference in Asaba, on Thursday, Managing Director of Omu Resort, Oladipo Bali said the initiative promises to redefine the tourism landscape as the next income earner for the state.

He stated that Delta was blessed with abundant tourism potential yet untapped and commended the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa administration for building the Leisure Park and Film Village in Asaba.

According to him, when “we came to Delta State some years back, we realised that there was a lot more potentials in tourism that were not exploited so we started up with a project tagged “Discover Delta” which is a book that shows the various tourist attractions in Delta State.

“That project was accompanied by a 45minute documentary on tourism in the state and from there we moved on to this Christmas in Delta State idea.

“We came up with this because we are underselling ourselves with two airports, fantastic people, fantastic attractions a lot more than Akwa-Ibom and Calabar put together but we are not exploiting it so the idea us bring in people from outside to see what we have.

“So we are trying to bring out a lot of activities different from what Calabar and others were doing and we are trying to put Delta on Delta on the global tourism map.

“I have often been quoted as saying ‘Asaba should be a mini Dubai’ right now and slowly but surely we will get there.

Christmas’s in Delta is basically an idea crafted to showcase Delta to the world. We came up with the tallest Christmas tree in Africa and anybody that Googles anything near Christmas tree its again aimed at showcasing Delta.

Delta State now have the tallest Christmas tree in Africa and once we get the certification anytime you Google tallest Christmas tree it will show you Delta State.

“We are also having the unified fireworks programme which has never been done anywhere in the world.

“One by one we are trying to kick start things that will stand us out. Thirty two (32) locations to go up simultaneously in the fireworks and we will continue to maintain it yearly because there is a lot more we can add.

“The street carnival is also coming up tomorrow and we have Santa Claus coming in 50 keke across Asaba and environs.

“Growing up we had the culture of Father Christmas which is already fading out from Nigeria so we are also bring back what we call the Christmas village where kids can visit and bond with their parents.

On criticisms trailing the tallest Christmas tree in the state, Bali said it was a misconception adding that tourism remains a high income earner for most nations and called for more investments in the tourism sector.

“Worldwide tourism is the highest earner for most countries, Dubai today that all of us go to is defined out of tourism and that’s same potentials that Delta State has today.

“If you go to Singapore today no natural resources it’s a country that thrives on tourism and its a third world country simply driven by tourism so I ask myself

“So my take on the criticism trailing the tallest Christmas tree project as an uninformed criticism because if you check properly what tourism has done for most countries then you don’t expect such comments.

“To address the state government involvement is near zero but there is an attempt to support us but from the N250million budget so far that we have spent came from my bank account.

“So when you want to write investigate, the business is new, the Christmas in Delta is new, the concessionaire is new to Delta State but if Coca-Cola is to talk to us as Christmas in Delta, they don’t know us but they know the state government so you need the state government endorsement of the programme.

“If you go to DSTV and start talking Christmas in Delta they will ask you who is backing you? So we needed to go to the State government for us to get legitimacy, drive and traction and what we needed is for the state government to identify us that we are genuine.

“There was a deliberate attempt from us to get state government endorsement which doesn’t mean state funding. But I believe the misconception came up when we put the picture of the Governor on the project and that made them think it was a state government project particularly when you look at the anticident were everything must be state-driven.

“We are private sector driven and if government wants to support us fine, it’s welcome but that it’s state government money not all, far from it,”

On the economic importance of the Christmas in Delta project, Bali said tourism is the world highest earner, adding that countries like Singapore and Dubai thrives on tourism.

“When the foreigners come our people benefit because people will buy things. The truth of the matter is after oil what next? We need to drive income drivers for Delta. Fossil fuels is going and tourism is a massive driver.

“Tourism impacts people and by extension drive the economy of the nation, tourism is the next oil,” he said

Also speaking on the economic importance, an official of the Christmas in Delta project, Mr Fred Onojeta, said the bottom line is to project the GDP of the state.

According to him, there must be a deliberate attempt to stimulate the economy and that is why nations will spend billions of dollars to host the world Cup.

“Christmas in Delta is a deliberate attempt aimed at stimulating the economy of the state,” he stated.