Sterling Bank Plc on Saturday offered to partner with Nigerian tourism practitioners for proper marketing of Nigeria’s tourism sites locally and internationally.

The bank’s Group Head, Propositions, and Partnership, Mr. Wasiu Popoola, made this known during an online meeting organized by the Nigeria Travel Week and Travelscope Magazine.

The theme of the meeting was: “A Fresh Start for Tourism in Nigeria: Transportation Sector”.

Popoola said that the partnership was spurred due to the observation that the tourism industry was an economic activity that had not been fully developed in Nigeria.

He said that the value chain existing in the tourism industry was completely broken, hence the collaboration would bridge the existing gaps.

“Nigeria has a rich lifestyle, cultural and historical destinations; resorts in Lagos are under patronised. So Sterling Bank is looking at wading into every problem hindering the growth of the industry.

“We want to fix the broken parts of the value chain existing in the industry and encourage collaborations between government and the private sector to boost internal and external tourism.

“We will create a digital platform to aggregate all services that every operator in the tourism value chain is involved in, promote their services, and help them get access to the market.

“We will put every operator on the platform to promote collaboration. This way, the broken part in the value chain would be identified and fixed,” he said.

Popoola also noted that where financing was required for facility upgrade for tourists’ sites, equipment, and all, the bank would render some financial assistance.

“When training is required, we have partners who are experts who can also train,” he said.