The Future of Heritage Sites and Tourism Industry in the Post-Covid Age

At its first programme to commence the year 2022, the Research, Publications and Programmes Unit had the pleasure of welcoming Engineer Abimbola Daniyan, immediate Past Chairman, Osun Tourism Board and the State of Osun Hotels and other Tourism Industry Licensing Authority, to deliver the January edition of the CBCIU Monthly Seminar Series. Daniyan, an accomplished administrator, who was ably represented by veteran journalist, Prince Wale Olayemi, used the opportunity presented by the seminar to explain the use of heritage and heritage sites and festivals as key sources and resources for tourism development and promotion in Osun State and Nigeria as a whole. He said this was an important issue of continuing interest globally in perceptive nations which appreciate the immense impacts of travel and tourism on their economies, notwithstanding the healthcare emergencies created by the recent covid-19 pandemic.

The subject of the presentation examined heritage as a transferred inheritance of the past to the present which could either come in form of tangible or intangible materials. Daniyan notes that heritage is a paid-forward product of the work of people in the past and a reminder to the current generation to grow and contribute what is uniquely their own to society. This, in his view, was for the accumulation and consolidation of that heritage which enables it to make a proud and just assertion of its values and virtues.

The need for a scholarly inquiry into the local heritage and history appeared as a front burner in the discussion which Daniyan emphasized would be of great benefit to society's development if explored maximally.

'For any heritage, tangible and intangible to be worthy of the larger world, it must first be worthy in our eyes and minds, in the sense in which we see and perceive it in our own smaller environment,' he said. On what is to be done to improve heritage, heritage sites and their management, Daniyan suggests that the learning of the history of the people's heritage embedded in the local culture must be a formal and functionally essential issue in the forming of the individual and his or her outlook in the society.

'We have a responsibility to explore and interact with our multidimensional heritage by learning our history and our folklore, for much knowledge is stored up in the formulated allegories we often parrot as historical facts. 'The point is to prepare and develop a resilient culture which cherishes and honours indigenous knowledge and the things we have in abundance in our environment and to promote a critical but constructive study, mastery and use of them as we interrogate issues in our ever-challenging world,' he concludes.

As part of the recommendations listed in the paper, Daniyan identified the need for festivals and carnivals development across the nine federal constituencies in Osun State. He suggested that to attract and streamline tourist inflows, each town should repackage their festivals by turning them into social events that would easily appeal to all categories of people yet retain their culturally progressive and historically significant character. Daniyan also recommended the need for hotels services classification and standardization to support the healthy growth of international and local visitors who travel to see and enjoy heritage festivals and sites in Osun State and Nigeria as a whole. He identified the importance of guest safety and security, customer service standard and satisfaction, effective regulatory monitoring and sanctions against cases of under-performance and abuses.

Some of the participants at the Seminar