Remembering Ignatius Atigbi; Mr. World Tourism Day –

If not for the poisonous waste that was dumped in Koko some years in the past, the worldwide concern it raised and the well being hazards it posed to the riverine group in Delta State, maybe only some from the world will know in regards to the city.

The sleeping city is the birthplace of late Ignatius Amaduwa Atigbi, the one black one who was a part of the staff that drew what has at the moment turn into a world tourism grasp plan. His dedication and efforts at implementing the well-thought out plan to the final letter at a world degree earned him excessive respect within the world tourism circle.

The late strategist is best often called Mr. World Tourism Day. He proposed the observance of September 27 of yearly as World Tourism Day. At govt committee assembly of the Worldwide Union of Official Journey Group (IUOTO) held at Istanbul, Turkey in 1971, Atigbi as head of the Nigerian and African delegation to the assembly after which secretary normal, Nigeria Vacationer Affiliation (NTA) and chairman of African Journey Fee, respectively stood to maneuver a historic movement that the home ought to endorse the commemoration September 27 of yearly as World Tourism Day. The movement was carried with unanimous votes and thus emerged the celebration of the annual World Tourism Day ceremony that has since been adopted by the then World Tourism Organisation (WTO), which changed IUOTO, and now, the United Nations World Tourism organisation (UNWTO). Transferring this movement was one of many sacred landmark contributions of Atigbi to worldwide tourism.

On a go to to the UNWTO’s headquarters in Madrid, Spain, his efforts converse for him and crown his journey into tourism with a legacy that this era’s tourism aficionados, particularly from his nation Nigeria, are pleased with.

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The reality is that his prowess in world tourism has not been matched by some other on the African continent. Atigbi’s many different caps within the tourism business consists of his function in Ankara, Turkey in 1975 as member of the essential particular Harmonization Committee convened to resolve thorny points within the draft standing of the emergent World Tourism group (WTO), now United nations World Tourism group (UNWTO). He was listed in two editions of “Who’s who” on the earth and was director of tourism within the Caribbean Islands of Barbados, St.Kitts and St. Vincent below the Commonwealth Technical Corp.

Although he died on December 22, 1998 and was buried in his house city, he nonetheless obtained accolades at demise. Few years again, the UNWTO deliberately moved the worldwide celebration of World Tourism Day to Ghana, an African soil, to honour the late tourism czar even in demise.

Then, Francesco Frangialli and Taleb Rifai, each former, secretary normal, UNWTO, respectively, counseled the a lot vitality and contributions of the late Nigerian, noting that he greater than deserve the post-modem honour obtained by the Federal Authorities on behalf of his household on the WTD celebration in Accra, Ghana.

“As we have a good time at the moment, we must always as effectively recognise the person who initiated the celebration worldwide of the phenomenon that’s tourism”, Rifia mentioned then.

Nevertheless, Atigbi’s recognition is a wakeup name for everybody who has something to contribute to native or worldwide tourism growth.

Since 1980, the United Nations World Tourism Group (UNWTO) has celebrated World Tourism Day as worldwide observances on September 27 of yearly. The UNWTO makes use of that day to boost consciousness on the function of tourism inside the worldwide group and to exhibit the way it impacts social, cultural, political and financial values worldwide.

The 2022 version is being celebrated on the theme: ‘Rethinking Tourism’, and it’s hosted on the world degree by Indonesia, whereas in Nigeria, it was hosted in Lagos State by the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigerian (FTAN) with many actions throughout the state and different components of the nation.