The National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) and the Organising Committee of the 5th CMD Food Tour, scheduled to hold in Abuja on November 25, 2023, have confirmed that 12 countries will be showcasing their indigenous culinary delights and tourism destination offerings at the Abuja Continental Hotel, venue of this year’s event.
CMD Food Tour is an international foods and beverages exhibition and free sampling, open to the public.
Managing Director of CMD Tourism & 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.”
Ms. Mambo emphasised 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 & 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 assured that NIHOTOUR 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, the DG of NIHOTOUR, Nura Sani Kangiwa, 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.”
A statement by the NIHOTOUR public relations officer, Joesef Karim, quoted Kangiwa as further revealing 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.”
NIHOTOUR is renowned 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.