From destination to asset class: Creating confidence that attracts investment in tourism

Tourism is often associated with beautiful landscapes, cultural festivals, heritage sites, reserves and hospitality. Before any tourist centre becomes an attraction, there must be a groundswell of popular acclaim and acceptance from a critical mass of the target population driving word of mouth, attention and footfalls to it. It is these first signs of potential that investors look for before directing their investments into any area.

If we want our tourism ideas and projects to become more than a destination and an asset class that attracts investments, we have to put on the cap that investors wear. The question is, what does an investor look for before choosing which tourism destination becomes an asset class?

Investors tend to ask a simple, and very important, question: can this destination consistently create value? If your tourism destination cannot ace this important question, you can be certain that the investor will take his business elsewhere.

That question is what separates a destination from an asset.

A destination attracts visitors. An asset attracts capital. A destination may become popular overnight; an asset continues to create value over generations.

For Nigeria to unlock tourism’s full economic potential, we must move beyond promoting attractions alone. We must build confidence: confidence that transportation is reliable, infrastructure works, experiences are worthwhile, service is professional and investments can generate sustainable returns.

Long before a visitor boards an aircraft, books a hotel room or registers for a festival, that person has already made an investment based on trust. The same is true, at a larger scale, for the hotel developer, airline operator, conference organiser, tour company and institutional investor.

Tourism, therefore, is not built only on attractions. It is built on confidence.

Every destination can attract visitors. Only a few attract sustained investment. The difference lies in six important transformations.

From seasonal attractions to living ecosystems

Many tourism destinations are built around annual events, but far fewer are built around year-round economic activity.

Years ago, while working as a journalist, I wrote an article titled A Tale of Two Cities. It reflected on how one of our cities in Nigeria becomes vibrant during a major festival, only to return to near silence after the celebrations end. The streets are empty, businesses are slow and economic activity fades.

The lesson remains relevant: festivals create moments; ecosystems create sustained prosperity for all stakeholders.

A festival may attract visitors, but an ecosystem attracts investors. The critical question is not simply what happens during the festival. It is what happens during the other days of the year when the bells for the festival have stopped ringing.

Can visitors return for food, culture, heritage, business, leisure, conferences, sport or family experiences? Can local businesses remain active after the event? Can jobs and enterprise be sustained?

Tourism becomes investable when a destination continues to create value long after an event has ended.

From access to enduring connectivity

Accessibility is essential, but it is never permanent. It must continually evolve.

I once came across a case study of a thriving American town that became deserted. Hotels closed, businesses disappeared and residents moved away. The town itself had not changed. What brought people there before was still there, but the town no longer enjoyed the status it once had. What brought this about? A new highway had simply been constructed that bypassed it. Travellers no longer needed to stop there, and the traffic – and economic activity – flowed elsewhere. Any illusion that it was a viable tourist attraction was dissolved with that one act.

The lesson is clear: destinations cannot build infrastructure only for today’s travel patterns. They must anticipate tomorrow’s and work ahead to stay relevant for those who invest in them.

Roads, airports, digital access, last-mile transport, signage, safety and seamless movement within a destination all matter. A location that is difficult to reach, difficult to navigate or difficult to leave will struggle to retain both visitors and investors.

Today’s competitive advantage can become tomorrow’s forgotten route if connectivity is not deliberately sustained and updated to match current realities, tastes and stature of the audience.

From visitor numbers to economic multipliers

Tourism is often measured by arrivals. It should be measured equally by economic impact.

One passenger arriving in a city supports far more than an airline. That journey can create business for airports, hotels, restaurants, transport operators, retailers, artisans, event organisers and local communities.

One journey. Many beneficiaries.

This is why tourism can be such a powerful driver of inclusive growth. Its benefits can extend beyond a single operator or sector when the destination has deliberately connected its value chain.

The challenge for tourism planners is to ask, ‘What can be built into the visitor experience that multiplies benefits for local communities while improving returns for investors?’

The answer may include curated local experiences, reliable transport, destination merchandising, skilled tour guides, conference facilities, food markets, cultural centres, digital booking platforms and partnerships that keep more visitor spending within the local economy.

Connectivity multiplies prosperity.

From ownership to collective stewardship

Over the years, I have had the privilege of being involved in advertising, marketing communications, festivals and promotional campaigns. Many generated excitement and achieved recognition. Yet some gradually faded – not because they lacked creativity, but because they never outgrew their founders.

Too many of the tourism events we hold dear are driven by the vision of a single individual rather than the dreams of a community or nation.

We must come to the realisation that an idea becomes an enduring asset when ownership becomes collective. The government must see value in it. Communities must protect it. Businesses must invest in it. Young people must find opportunity in it. The media must amplify it. Airlines, hotels, transport providers and other enablers must support it.

The greatest compliment any tourism initiative can receive is when people begin to say, “This belongs to all of us.”

That is when it ceases to be merely an event and begins to become an institution. Before this can happen, it must be centrally driven and consciously midwifed till it becomes part of our DNA.

From informal service to a professional standard

Tourism must also learn from aviation in the area of training, certification and professional discipline.

In aviation, competence is not assumed. It is demonstrated, assessed, renewed and, where necessary, independently verified. From pilots and engineers to cabin crew, dispatchers, safety personnel and maintenance organisations, there are recognised standards that build confidence in both the people and the institutions that serve the industry.

Tourism needs a similarly deliberate approach.

Beyond obtaining a degree or attending a course in catering, hotel management or hospitality, there is a need for a credible tourism and hospitality training institute, or an industry-led framework, that provides practical, globally benchmarked courses and certifications for people who work across the value chain.

This should cover hotel and guest-house operations, tour guiding, destination management, customer service, food and beverage, events, transport, safety, sustainability and tourism enterprise management.

More importantly, it should provide a transparent means of grading both professionals and organisations. A visitor should be able to recognise that a hotel, tour operator, attraction, restaurant or destination service provider has met defined standards of quality, safety, service and sustainability – much as recognised quality certifications give confidence in other sectors.

Such a framework should not exist merely to issue certificates. It should create a culture of continuous improvement, clear career progression and accountability.

Tourism jobs must also be elevated into professions that people are proud to pursue and grow within. The receptionist, tour guide, chef, driver, guest-relations officer, housekeeper, event coordinator and destination manager are not peripheral workers. They are often the people who determine whether a visitor leaves with a good story – or never returns.

When tourism workers are properly trained, respected, certified and rewarded, the entire visitor experience improves. When organisations are transparently assessed against credible standards, investors gain greater assurance that quality is not accidental.

Professionalism is not an optional extra in tourism. It is part of the infrastructure of confidence.

From isolated projects to an investment ecosystem

Tourism should not be viewed in isolation because each investment can strengthen another.

Better airports can attract more airlines. More airlines improve accessibility. Greater accessibility attracts more visitors. More visitors encourage hotel investment. Better hotels attract conferences. Conferences increase business travel. Business travel supports aviation. More aircraft movements strengthen the business case for maintenance facilities and skilled aviation services.

Each investment reinforces the next.

This is how destinations become asset classes: not through isolated projects, but through connected systems that reduce risk, increase confidence and create multiple opportunities for value.

Aviation: An often unseen tourism asset

Aviation is one of the critical enablers of this confidence.

At Aero Contractors, we have seen how reliable air connectivity supports economic activity far beyond the airport. For decades, we have helped connect commercial centres, supported strategic industries and made movement possible across challenging routes.

In the oil and gas sector, aviation has long enabled the safe movement of personnel to offshore platforms and remote operational locations. These services are about more than transportation; they support one of Nigeria’s most strategic economic sectors.

During a recent visit to long-standing partners in Sokoto, a simple statement stood out: “One Aero. One Sokoto.” It reflected the value of dependable connectivity over time.

I also recall arriving in Warri and being warmly welcomed by an official, who described Aero Contractors as an airline that helped open the route and connect the region more effectively with the rest of Nigeria.

Such experiences reinforce an important truth: airlines do not simply connect airports. They connect economies, people and possibilities.

There is also an aviation contribution that tourists may never see but investors understand very well: Maintenance, repair and overhaul capability.

Reliable aviation depends on reliable maintenance. A strong MRO reduces operational risk, strengthens airline confidence, supports skilled employment and can attract engineers, inspectors, regulators and operators into the country. It helps build the dependable aviation ecosystem that makes regional connectivity more sustainable. An MRO may never appear on a tourism brochure, but it quietly supports the confidence on which tourism depends.

The real objective

As Nigeria seeks to diversify its economy, tourism presents a significant opportunity. But our ambition should not simply be to increase visitor numbers. We should seek to create destinations that remain valuable, relevant, competitive and investable twenty, thirty and even fifty years from now.

That requires continuity: moving from seasonal attractions to year-round ecosystems.

It requires connectivity: ensuring access today while anticipating tomorrow’s travel patterns.

It requires economic multiplication: seeing every visitor as a catalyst for broader prosperity.

It requires collective ownership: transforming initiatives into institutions embraced by communities and stakeholders.

It requires professional standards: building a tourism workforce and service culture that is trained, certified, respected and continuously improved.

And it requires credible enablers: the often unseen infrastructure, including aviation and maintenance capability, that makes the entire system dependable.

Tourism does not begin when a visitor arrives. It begins much earlier – with confidence.

Confidence to travel. Confidence to invest. Confidence to return.

When people trust a destination, visitors come. Businesses follow. Investment grows. Communities prosper.

That is how destinations become asset classes.

Olufemi Oluwafemi is a sales and marketing professional at Aero Contractors Company of Nigeria Limited. The views expressed are personal.