January 28, 2018

The Managing Director of Skyview Communications, Mr Femi Lawson, says Nigeria’s tourism industry needs to apply the technology of virtual reality to improve.

“Virtual reality is how other countries sell their tourist attractions; when you view the country’s tourist attractions through virtual reality, everyone will benefit from what it brings, Lawson said on Sunday.

He spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

NAN reports that Skyview Communications is a brand development and marketing company.

Virtual tourism is a simulation of an existing tourist location.

It is composed of a sequence of videos or still images which may involve some multimedia elements such as sound effects, music, narration and text.

Lawson said that Nigeria’s tourism industry had the potential to create jobs and generate revenues.

“What we are doing through virtual tourism is to create a platform to help players in the industry to enjoy their work and make more profits.

“We are not creating a different tourism system; we are trying to innovate the existing system of tourism.

“This platform is to help us to sell other platforms,’’ he told NAN.

The managing director noted that Skyview Communications, in partnership with the Tourism Innovation and Development Advantage (TIDA), would launch the virtual reality project on Feb. 7 in Lagos.

“After we lay the foundation of virtual tourism, we hope the government takes up the virtual tourism when it becomes very big.”

He said that an organisation known as the Tourism Entrepreneural Development Academy (TEDA) could be used to create more tourism awareness and promote the industry.

“Tourism is all about moving people from one place to the other, and this involves a lot of logistics; this is where TEDA comes in,” he said.

He added that Nigerians needed to acquire the culture of resting through travel.

“Nigerians should be able to travel, explore various locations as well as rest; this can be done effectively through tourism,” he said.