The International Coalition of Tourism Partners has sent a congratulatory message to their member destination Nigeria for introducing tourist visa card to ease the burden of tourists carrying cash while in Nigeria and a biometric registration system for the tourism industry workers.

This follows a meeting at FITUR between Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, director general of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation and minister Alain St. Ange of the Seychelles.

In a press statement released in Madrid, Spain, a co-founder of the internationally acclaimed body Alain St.Ange, also commended Nigeria for its efforts at curbing fraudulent tendencies in the industry.

Alain St.Ange, who is also a member of the ICTP executive board, lauded these efforts at repositioning the tourism industry in Nigeria with international standards and best practices.

“We in ICTP are very pleased with these development and innovations in Nigeria,” he said.

“We believe these new products are good for tourism growth in the continent.”

Accordingly, the ICTP is encouraging other countries in Africa to do what Nigeria has done for the growth of tourism in their countries.

“We encourage other countries in Africa to introduce these products to ease the movements of tourists who would not carry cash because people don’t carry cash across borders any longer,” added St. Ange.

On the introduction of biometric registration, the ICTP said it viewed the development as a right step forward at instilling confidence in tourists in line with global standard and best practices.

The biometric registration will ensure that the CV of hotel staff is always available to all tourism establishments prior to recruitment of new applicants.

This will remain an internal confidential data base for the tourism industry.

It is an innovative system and Africa will be watching how it develops as it will ensure hotels have the latest information on the tourism workforce.