By Palma Ileye
National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, NIHOTOUR and the Organizing Committee of the 5th CMD Food Tour, scheduled to hold in Abuja on 25th November 2023, have confirmed that twelve countries will be showcasing their indigenous culinary delights and tourism destination offerings at the Abuja Continental Hotel, venue of this year’s event.
According to a statement issued by Joesef Karim, Public Relations Officer, National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, NIHOTOUR, CMD Food Tour is an international foods and beverages exhibition and free sampling, open to the public.
In the statement, the Managing Director of CMD Tourism and Trade Enterprises Limited, Ms. Mambo Cecile, disclosed that, “till date, twelve countries namely Cameroun, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Malaysia, Philippines, Burkina Faso, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Egypt, Botswana and Uganda, have all confirmed their participation in the 5th edition of CMD Food Tour.”
Mambo emphasized that, “apparently and judging from the increased number of participating countries for this year’s event, our active partnership with the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, NIHOTOUR, in organizing this 5th edition has been opening doors and yielding impressive results. Similarly, we have some notable brands as sponsors including Wakanow, Air Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda Air, Royal Air Maroc and Vava Furniture.”
It will be recalled that NIHOTOUR and CMD Tourism and Trade Enterprises had a few weeks back announced their partnership to co-host the food exhibition, following the success of the 3rd NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival that held in June at the Abuja International Conference Centre.
On that occasion, the Director General of NIHOTOUR, Nura Sani Kangiwa assured that the institute will remain open to partnerships with hospitality and tourism stakeholders and programmes in the Nigerian industry.
Confirming the increased number of participating countries in the 5th CMD Food Tour, Nura Sani Kangiwa, the DG of NIHOTOUR, remarked that, “we are pleased that Embassies and the Diplomatic Community in Nigeria are recently keying into tourism development events and opportunities holding in Nigeria. It is a win-win partnership for Nigerian culinary tourism and a showcase for the participating countries. Hence, this year’s CMD Food Tour will be a consolidation of NIHOTOUR’s efforts in positioning Nigeria as a leading gastronomy tourism destination in Africa.”
The Director General of NIHOTOUR further revealed that, “as a training institute and tourism personnel capacity development parastatal of the Federal Government of Nigeria, our partnership with CMD Tourism, and indeed with other stakeholders in the industry, aim to improve on the sector-specific knowledge and Nigeria’s capacity of hosting signature food festivals that depicts our traditions, cultures, and diversity of our hospitality offerings.”
The National Institute for Hospitality and tourism, NIHOTOUR, is renown for its annual NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival, as well as her ‘NaijaFoods’ exhibitions around Nigeria and West Africa..
NIHOTOUR is established by an Act of Parliament to train, certify and register all professional in Nigeria’s travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors. It presently has 12 campuses across the country and provides hands-on training and upskilling programmes at basic, intermediate, and advanced levels.
The 5th edition of CMD Food Tour will showcase Nigerian and international foods and beverages, as well as exhibit tourism destination products of participating countries in the event.
CMD Food Tours have traditionally been opportunities for local produce farmers and inbound tour operators to network and gain new food tourism business insights.