Princewill Odidi|9 January 2016|5:34am
Stone Mountain Georgia is one of Atlanta tourist sites, raking in huge income to the state of Georgia yearly. Over 4.5million visitors visit the site yearly. Last year, the park raked in almost half a billion dollars in income. It is owned by the state, but outsourced to a private contractor to run its operations.
The State of Georgia has designed programs around these huge stone ranging from water parks, boat rides, 4D studios, civil war enactments, museums, theme parks and many more.
One unique attraction in Stone Mountain is the making of artificial snow, used for snow balling and snow rides. Georgia is one of the few American states that does not have traditional snow fall, so artificial snow attracts large population of southern visitors to snow mountain to participate in this activities.
Nigeria does not have a vacation city and tourist venue with great activities akin to Stone Mountain Georgia. A well designed tourist village featuring attractions and planned activities would be an investment that can be sustained. Can we design a tourist development plan around the Obudu ranch to attract tourist to Obudu in their thousands? Considering the huge number of Nigerians visiting Accra and Dubai yearly, can we reinvent the Dubai opportunity we missed in Tinapa at the Ranch?
Detailed logistical planning, infrastructure development, and project expertise can make it happen. It will just take some simple good thinking and planning to turn CRS fortune around. Just thinking out loud…
Princewill Odidi
Is a Development Consultant who writes from Atlanta, Georgia.
Princewillodidi@yahoo.com
