Kunle Adelabu
The Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has officially launched a new initiative tagged: ‘Q4-Lagos’, aimed at encouraging and building a culture of collating data on all entertainment and tourism activities in the State.
Speaking at the launch of the initiative at Best Western Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, the Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Pharm (Mrs.) Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf said that Q4 simply means the four quarters in a year comprising January to March, April to June, July to September, and October to December
She explained further that the concept emanated from findings that revealed that the numbers of tourists to Lagos State are not captured in statistical data, but with the introduction of Q4, details of tourism and entertainment activities for each quarter can easily be compiled and collated.
According to her, the Ministry considered it worrisome that there are no reliable statistics and data on the contributions of tourism to the economy of Lagos, as such, there is a need to have more holistic data on tourists visiting Lagos State.
She said the decision of the Ministry to promote Q4-LAGOS was inspired by the clarion call “Eko for Show”, which is a callout to the global tourism industry that Lagos is ready to assume its premier position as the choice location for tourism, hospitality, events and holidays in each of the four quarters of the year.
“As already enshrined in our Tourism Master Plan, Q4 was designed with the support of our various tourism stakeholders to achieve maximum tourist potential for cosmopolitan Lagos thereby boosting the state’s revenue and recovery”, she said.
The Commissioner disclosed further that the main focus of the initiative is to establish Lagos as the premier destination for all seasons through a Data-Driven Calendar of activities while ensuring that data of visiting tourists are readily available for immediate and future reference.
In her words: “With this launch of Q4, it is now compulsory for all our stakeholders to always keep the Ministry informed of all their activities and programmes, so as to collate necessary data from these events”.
“However, it is important to stress that the Q4 Concept is not intended for revenue generation. While the Ministry will not want to follow the line of enforcement on compliance but will not hesitate to sanction any operator or stakeholder that refuses to cooperate with the government on this data collation efforts”, she added.
Akinbile-Yussuf listed the benefits of the initiative to include creating and maintaining an economic Eco-System of Owners, Operators, Promoters, Marketers, Event Organisers and Planners, adding that it will also help to optimise revenue generation opportunities for Lagos State through the Ministry.
Also speaking, Mr. Ivor Ekpe, the Head of QTourism Limited, the company partnering with the Ministry in actualising the initiative, said there would be strategic reporting of the initiative every quarter.
Ekpe, therefore, advised all tourism practitioners in the state to embrace the initiative as it had no financial implications on their part but would rather improve their business over time.
He implored all stakeholders and relevant bodies as well as concerned organisations to support and partake in the Q4-Lagos initiative.
