The Nigeria Association of Tour Operators (NATOP) has marked the World Tourism Day 2026 with a nationwide, multi-zone celebration blending capacity building, technology, destination marketing and domestic tourism advocacy.
Themed activities were held simultaneously across the South West, FCT/Northern Zone and South-South Zone in line with this year’s UN Tourism theme: ‘Tourism and Sustainable Transformation’, with a focus on digital innovation and artificial intelligence.
South West: Classroom Meets Beach at Ziba
The high point of the celebration was in the South West Zone, where close to 200 tour operators converged on Ziba Beach Resort, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, for a special masterclass on Artificial Intelligence and its application in tour operations.
The training was designed to equip members with practical digital tools for content creation, destination storytelling, itinerary building and online marketing.
Addressing members at the session, NATOP President, Hajia Bolaji Mustapha, said the choice of Ziba was deliberate and strategic.
“We always attach World Tourism Day to a tourism site. We wanted to train members on how to do tour business digitally, how to promote tourism using different AI tools so they can grow their businesses. We also wanted to use this opportunity to explore Ziba Beach Resort which just launched its third phase. We want to showcase that this beautiful resort is actually in Nigeria, not Zanzibar. We kill two birds with one stone,” she said.
Mustapha noted that the training aligns with the global digital revolution and is critical for the survival of professional tour operators.
“We need to bring ourselves up to speed and align with the digital revolution. Content creators are taking our business. We are the ones who understand the business and we can tell the story better. Let everybody go digital so that anyone coming to Nigeria will be able to discover Nigeria with the experts”, she added.
The President said the AI training will help operators create richer content to