The tourism books you must buy ! A review of tourism books published by Fidelia Salami reviewed by Wale Ojo - Lanre

Intergenerational Trilogy of Tourism Education Treatise A Review of Senior Secondary School 1-3 Tourism Education ( NERDC Curriculum-structured ) Books Writer and Editor:  Fidelia M. Salami Publisher: Adventure Holiday Concept Venue: Orchid Hotels, Main Hall, Asaba, Delta State Date: 27 July 2021 Reviewer: Ambassador Wale Ojo-Lanre, B.A(Ed) History, MA Peace and Conflicts, LLB, Dip. Journalism Associate Editor, Tourism, Nigerian Tribune Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Ekiti State on Tourism Development   PROTOCOLS It gives me great pleasure and opportunity to be in Asaba, one of the most commercially prosperous cities in Nigeria with the historical testimony of its being the former colonial capital of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate, founded in 1884. Between 1886 and 1900, it hosted the Royal Niger Company, which the British authorities set up to stimulate trade and the exportation of goods to England. That company has grown today into UAC Nigeria PLC. So, Asaba is a business heritage tourism centre which makes the city a perfect venue for the launching of the books. Before going into the book review, I must deliver a goodwill message from my Governor, Dr John Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum, to his brother and friend, Dr Ifeanyi  Arthur  Okowa, the Executive Governor of Delta State, the state that has the biggest heart to accommodate all lawful souls – The Big Heart! I am also privileged to inform this congregation of eminent and distinguished personalities here that on 19 June 2014, this tourism asset of a lady, Fidelia Salami, took me from Ibadan, Oyo State, to the National Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, to do a review of her masterpiece, ‘Tourism in Nigeria: The Incredible Journey into the Heart of Nature’. Today, she has again lured me all the way from Ado Ekiti and saddled me with the onerous responsibility of reviewing her three books-in-one which I have termed ‘National Tourism Education Curriculum Made Easy for SSS1 ,SSS2 and SSS

3 or in the more academic term, an Intergenerational Trilogy of Tourism Education Treatise . The Three products:  Senior Secondary Tourism, Education Book 1(Nigerian Research Development Council Curriculum ) Senior Secondary Tourism Education Book 2 (NERDC Curriculum )                         Senior Secondary Tourism Education Book 3 (NERDC Curriculum ) I will not bore you with an analysis of each of them, having said earlier that it is a trilogy that is written in sequential order of learning, but I must state that Fidelia has woven them so well that each can stand alone for academic gymnastics. However, each of the books is unique as the lessons and topics therein are offered in stages, thus making it one-in-three reservoirs of knowledge. Common features The covers of the books come in paperback that wears the national colours of White and Green, buffered with pictures .  The books are published and printed in Lagos by Adventure Holiday Concepts and each has its ISBN digits. All the topics in the books are congruent and are in alignment with the objectives of the National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC). The forewords to the three books are the handiwork of the late Prince Tony Momoh, legal practitioner, veteran journalist and Nigeria’s former Minister of Information. May his soul rest in perfect peace. In the forewords, the late grand journalist points out the significance of tourism as a vehicle for a massive reduction in unemployment, generation of revenue, stimulator of wealth and means of empowerment. But he laments that there have not been conscious efforts at entrenching tourism studies in the Nigerian education curriculum. The late Prince Momoh however laments thus “The fact that the study of tourism appears to be lacking at the secondary level in Nigeria and textbooks used by teachers and students of tourism is limited in scope, ”. The introduction messages in the three books are the same and written by a single soul - Mrs Fidelia Salami where she succinctly highlights reasons why she embarked on the intellectual exercise “ First is a desire to  see students successfully pass through the Senior Secondary Education and acquire the trade skills in tourism “Second is to open the vastness of our tourist attractions to the rest of the world”. It is against this background and others that the three books Senior Secondary Tourism Education 1- 3 shall be reviewed. The first item that will arrest your attention in all the chapters in the books is the strict adherence to teaching methodology by lesson note specifications via objective performance and back end assessment. Those of us who have degrees in Education would appreciate the essential role of performance objectives that go thus: “At the end of the lesson or topic, the students should be able to...” in implanting knowledge of this kind. It is on this note that I want all of us in this hall today to gird our loins as I welcome you to Senior Secondary Tourism Education Book 1 This 144 pages book can be called ABC of tourism. As students pick subjects that will determine their future endeavours at the SS1, and with tourism as a new subject in the Nigerian firmament of academic endeavour at the secondary school level, Fidelia, in consonance with her motive of publishing books to elicit interest in the students, stocks each of the five chapters with what can perfectly be called ABC of tourism. Chapter One consists of five topics; opens with definitions and scope of tourism, history of tourism and tourism history in Nigeria, types of tourism, functions of tourism, forms of tourism and components of tourism.  Under the Definition and Scope of Tourism, the author carefully deconstructs the meaning and highlights the scope of tourism, utilizing the definition of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation 9 (UNWTO):  “Tourism is a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business /professional purposes...” She also lists over 15 definitions of tourism, all of which find equilibrium in the fact that tourism involves moving from a place of domicile to another place, though not for a permanent job or settlement. Chapter two introduced students to the tourism and travel business, definition of tourism products, characteristics of tourism products. Chapter Three educates students on tourist attractions and their locations, the definition of tourist attractions, types of tourist attractions, various fascinating attractions in Nigeria, among others. Chapter Four is a topic in tourism statistics and teaches the meaning of tourism statistics, the essence of tourism statistics and so on. Chapter Five introduces the students to the benefits of tourism to a nation. It also evaluates the roles of taxes, levies, the balance of payment, foreign exchange earnings, areas of social benefits of tourism via cultural interactions, world peace, how it adds value to life, job creation, development of infrastructure and areas of environmental benefits in tourism.  It closes the Senior Secondary Tourism Education book 1 with Bibliography and Index, as done in other books We are now in Senior Secondary Tourism Education Book 2 This 122 pages book of tourism has six chapters with 40 topics. Chapter One has topics on festivals and heritage centres in Nigeria, definition and ways a community can benefit from festivals, list of festivals, World Heritage sites in Nigeria and their significance all over the world, museums and historical monuments, the role of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), art galleries and types of art galleries. Chapter Two is about travel agency, definition, who a travel agent is, operations and functions of a travel agent, among others. Chapter 3 parades topics on Tour Operating Business where Fidelia leverages on her cognate experience as a seasoned tour operator to distinguish and delineate the difference between a travel agent and tour operating business Chapter Four harbors topic on the whys and wherefores of human travels, exposing the physiological, economic and social factors of why people move from one place to the other.  Chapter Five offers lessons on the support groups in the travel and tour business. This chapter explains why, without them, the travel and tour business may collapse, and who these groups are. Are there no regulating agencies, ministries and associations relating to the tourism sector?  If there are, what are their histories, roles and achievements? These are the issues Chapter Six of the Senior Secondary Tourism 2 speaks to in closing the book. Welcome to Senior Secondary 3 Tourism Education Book Having scaled through SS1 and 2 of the Senior Secondary Tourism, we are now to distil the 181 pages of five chapters and 40 topics in Senior Secondary 3. In Chapter 1, Fidelia foregrounds the benefits of tourism by highlighting developmental benefits via infrastructures, superstructures and rural developments. Chapter Two topics are on tourism marketing where we are supposed to know the definition, characteristics, strategies, components and marketing tools. Chapter Three deals with entrepreneurship in tourism, definition, important tips for would-be entrepreneurs, examples, characteristics and skills that help, cottage industry, items produced from cottage industries, making of arts and crafts and socio-economic roles and functions of crafts. Chapter Four focuses on service delivery, a list of service delivery professionals and a list of factors affecting service delivery in Nigeria. And in Chapter Five, the writer rolls out the definition, list of skill acquisition centres, WAEC past questions, the syllabus on tourism and over 200 revision questions and answers! The trilogy of Senior Secondary Tourism Education book 1-3 is not the typical run-of-the-mill books that are hurriedly compiled by hungry authors in anticipation of getting them noticed and or for pecuniary gains. These books published by Fidelia are products of agrarian determination and resolution to fill a lacuna to entrench tourism as a productive subject now that Nigeria is keeping an eye on tourism as another source of revenue. The books and all the materials are nationalistic right from the green and white back cover colour to the location of the referenced tourism sites, photographs, geographical mapping, illustrations, indexes and bibliography.  Each topic is guided by the NERDC curriculum with performance objectives indicated before the topic and each at the end of the topic has the assessment profile which is treated in a classroom environment that will enhance the cognitive power of the students. The books are a complete touristic troubadour of Nigeria in terms of culture, arts, crafts, monuments, heritage,  content, history, data, statistics, pictures, verification and documentation of facts. Apart from putting up materials needed for the acquisition of knowledge, according to tourism, the books are spiced to elicit entrepreneurial instinct in the students who are by the way prepared to work for themselves, either as craft makers, tour operators, travel agents or tour guides. The trilogy is rich in research, buffeted with quality materials and garnished with superb photographs that illuminate and highlight the copious and relevant topics. I congratulate and commend Fidelia M. Salami for not coming out to just publish a book; she is always out to make her mark by publishing research documentation and materials in the form of books on tourism. This has made her, not only the first lady in the tourism sector to publish four books on tourism within a decade, but it has also showcased her as a brilliant author in the Nigerian tourism sector who always strive for excellence in all her projects . This has cast her in the mould of the late Matts Ebaboje DaSilva, Mr Nigeria Tourism, Chief Olu  Faoseke, former president of ANJET, and Pelu Awofeso. I must also commend whoever edited the manuscript for a very diligent job. Although there are a few typographical errors, most importantly, emphasis must be laid on the quality of the pictures to be used in subsequent editions. Finally, going by the contents, the research materials, the data and the setting of the topics in correlation with the curriculum of the Nigerian Educational Research Council (NERDC), And for the books allaying the fears expressed by the late Prince Tony Momoh in his Foreword of the dearth of textbooks on tourism education And also for the fact that the contents in the books are crafted in deep research and documentation that could enable students who read them to excel in WAEC or NECO or any other examinations related to tourism at SSSC And also that the knowledge there in is capable at stoking the embers of entrepreneurial instincts in whoever read the books . I, Ambassador Wale Ojo-Lanre, today, 27th day of July, here in Asaba, at the presence of distinguished Nigerians and eminent personalities including the present Governor and a former governor of Delta State with the blessing of the Dein of Agbor publicly recommend this Senior Secondary Tourism 1-3, books published by Fidelia Salami not only for secondary school students but also to whoever wants to learn about tourism as a subject, tourism as a business and tourism as a catalyst for development to acquire these books which are invaluable assets to be possessed , read , kept and stored for this generation and generations yet unborn. These books are inestimable contribution to tourism education advancement in Nigeria and the global platform . Vivile every soul who are here today Vivile Fidelia Salami Vivile Tourism Vivile Delta State Vivile Nigeria