Unlike in the past in Lagos and across the world when tourism is a luxury industry reserved for holidaymakers, leisure seekers, and wealthy travelers but today, it has become a powerful economic instrument for generating wealth, creating jobs, attracting investment, promoting cultural identity, and opening new opportunities for small businesses. For Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre and one of Africa’s most vibrant cities, the potential has become enormous.
Yet, unlocking this potential requires more than beautiful destinations, colourful festivals, music concerts and promotional campaigns. It demands deliberate policies, strategic investments, effective partnerships and a clear vision of how the state’s rich cultural heritage can be transformed into sustainable economic prosperity. This is the task that has increasingly defined the tourism drive being championed by Idris Aregbe, Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Tourism, Arts and Culture under the THEMES PLUS.
Aregbe’s approach under the Sanwo-Olu’s administration reflects a growing understanding that Lagos must begin to see tourism not merely as an avenue for entertainment but as a serious economic sector capable of putting money in the pockets of ordinary residents, empowering entrepreneurs and expanding the state’s revenue base.
Indeed, Lagos possesses the ingredients to become one of Africa’s leading tourism destinations. From its historic communities, traditional festivals and royal institutions to its beaches, museums, art galleries, restaurants, fashion industry, entertainment centres and vibrant nightlife, the state has a remarkable collection of attractions waiting to be fully explored and commercially harnessed.
The challenge has always been how to convert these enormous cultural and recreational assets into viable economic opportunities. This is where the emerging direction of the Aregbe-led tourism strategy becomes particularly significant for Lagos.
One of the encouraging features of his approach is the deliberate attempt to connect tourism with commerce and entrepreneurship. The Lagos Tourism NBC Trade Fair, organised in partnership with Naija Brand Chick, offers an example of how entertainment and tourism can be deployed to create a marketplace for small businesses, vendors, fashion entrepreneurs, food producers and other creative enterprises.
The initiative, which has attracted hundreds of vendors and tens of thousands of visitors, demonstrates that tourism events can serve purposes beyond attracting crowds. They can create direct markets for products, stimulate consumer spending, generate business connections and provide opportunities for entrepreneurs who might otherwise struggle to access larger commercial platforms.
Reported figures from the 2025 edition indicated that the Island event generated more than N1 billion in sales, illustrating the commercial possibilities of connecting tourism with small-business development.
Equally important is the administration’s effort to develop tourism beyond the familiar December festivities that have given Lagos its reputation as a major entertainment destination. Through the 101 Days in Lagos initiative, the state is seeking to organise its cultural, entertainment, food and leisure offerings into a more structured tourism calendar.
This is a welcome departure from an approach that allows tourism activities to peak during the festive season before slowing down for much of the year.
For Lagos to maximise its tourism potential, visitors must have compelling reasons to arrive in January, April, July and September, just as they do in December. Hotels, restaurants, transport operators, event organisers, tour guides, artisans and other businesses should not have to depend on one festive season to sustain their operations; which formed Sanwo-Olu’s aide sleepless night to design new events that brings global attention to Lagos.
Similarly, the Skill Up Lagos initiative, which Aregbe says has trained more than 1,000 creatives over two years, recognizes an important dimension of tourism development: the need to build the human capacity required to sustain the industry.
A tourism economy cannot thrive on attractions alone. It requires trained professionals, creative entrepreneurs, hospitality workers, event managers, tour operators, cultural practitioners and people equipped to deliver quality experiences to visitors.
Perhaps one of the clearest illustrations of this philosophy is the 2026 Gele Festival, through which the Lagos State Government is seeking to transform an important aspect of Yoruba cultural heritage into a source of skills, employment and economic empowerment.
Scheduled for Sunday, November 8, the festival goes beyond celebrating the beauty and cultural significance of the traditional headwrap. It seeks to recognise Gele artistry as a specialised creative enterprise capable of providing sustainable livelihoods, particularly for women and young people.
With a ₦2 million cash prize for the participant who produces the most spectacular headpiece, the festival is designed to reward creativity, encourage innovation and give greater recognition to professional Gele stylists.
More significantly, the state has conducted skills-development programmes that have trained hundreds of young Gele artists in advanced tying techniques, contemporary styling and creative business management.
Aregbe’s explanation of the initiative captures the economic thinking behind the administration’s cultural tourism agenda. According to him, the objective is not simply to preserve Yoruba traditions but to ensure that people who possess these cultural skills can turn them into viable sources of income.
His argument that empowering one woman can have a positive impact on her family and the wider community is particularly instructive. It reinforces the point that tourism and cultural preservation should deliver practical benefits to the people whose traditions and creative abilities make the industry possible.
The plan to integrate successful trainees into an official Lagos Creative Database is another significant aspect of the initiative. By connecting trained stylists with event planners, government functions and international tourism exhibitions, the state is seeking to create a more organised market for their services beyond the festival itself.
This is an important intervention. Training without access to customers and markets often leaves beneficiaries without the opportunity to translate newly acquired skills into income. By linking training with potential employment and commercial opportunities, the government is taking a more practical approach to creative-sector empowerment.
The Gele Festival also demonstrates how cultural preservation can be aligned with the broader THEMES+ agenda, particularly its emphasis on social inclusion, economic opportunity and human capital development.
Beyond the Gele Festival, another important aspect of the current strategy is the growing recognition that Lagos tourism cannot be developed exclusively from government offices or concentrated around Victoria Island, Lekki and other established commercial centres.
The state’s 20 local government areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas possess cultural identities, historical landmarks, traditional institutions, festivals and community attractions that could become valuable tourism assets if properly identified, developed and promoted.
Aregbe’s recent engagement with local government and council development area representatives is therefore a step in the right direction. By encouraging grassroots participation, the government is acknowledging that tourism wealth must reach communities where many of the state’s cultural resources originate.
Communities in Badagry, Epe, Ikorodu, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland and other parts of the state have stories, traditions and historical landmarks that deserve greater visibility.
Badagry, for instance, remains an important destination for understanding Nigeria’s history and the transatlantic slave trade. Epe has rich cultural traditions and festivals, while Ikorodu possesses historical institutions and heritage attractions that could support a thriving tourism economy.
Understanding that if these locations are properly developed, these destinations could stimulate local commerce, create employment for young people and provide alternative sources of income for residents. Also, that government alone cannot shoulder the enormous financial responsibility of developing every tourism facility, hospitality centre, recreational park and cultural destination, therefore it must create an environment where credible private investors can bring capital, expertise and innovation into the sector.
With this vision, Aregbe led the partnership with Giwa Gardens, illustrating the opportunities that can emerge when government and private operators work together to expand recreational tourism infrastructure.
Ultimately, the success of Aregbe’s tourism drive should not be measured by how loudly Lagos celebrates its cultural heritage, but by how much economic value that heritage creates for its people.
Lagos has the population, commercial energy, cultural diversity, entertainment industry and international visibility to build a formidable tourism economy. What is required is consistency, effective implementation, accountability and sustained investment.
Aregbe recognizes that the state’s cultural wealth must be converted into economic wealth, which formed his vision to move tourism beyond promising programmes and becomes a sustainable system that creates opportunities across the state.
For Aregbe, the message is very clear under the Sanwo-Olu’s administration, Lagos must not merely entertain the world; it must create wealth from the experience.
Monsurudeen Olowoopejo is a journalist based in Lagos with over a decade experiences in the media industry.