Mr Wale Ojo-Lanre, Director-General, Ekiti State Council for Arts and Culture on Saturday said that most tourists’ sites in the state including Ikogosi Warm Spring had been refurbished to attract tourists after the post-COVID-19 pandemic.
Ojo-Lanre disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos while reeling out the tourism post-COVID-19 expectations in Ekiti.
NAN reports that Ikogosi Warm Spring is a tourist attraction located at Ikogosi, Ekiti, flowing abreast the warm spring and cold spring which meets at a confluence, each maintaining its thermal properties.
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According to research, the warm spring has a temperature of about 70 degree Celsius at the source and 37 degree Celsius at the confluence.
Ojo-Lanre said the rehabilitation was done while COVID-19 was ravaging the country in preparation to revamp tourists’ inflow into the state.
“Ikogosi Warm Spring has been refurbished to encourage swimming activities and enable people to have a relationship with nature.
“Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti has seen tourism, arts and culture as a way of empowering and resuscitating the capital base of the common people.
“He has given the state Ministry of Tourism and the Council for Arts and Culture the task to resuscitate and market tourists sites within the state.
“We are restoring the Fajuyi Park to its original friends, family and children park where people can read, have fun and relax with lots of entertainment.
“The Fajuyi Park also serves as a memorial centre for the history, value and culture of Ekiti,” he said.
The director-general also disclosed that the state was also constructing a civic centre meant to attract tourists into the state which was 95 per cent completed.
He said that the civic centre had an amphitheatre of 1,500 sitting capacity, two cinemas for English and Yoruba operations, a big museum, art gallery, conference centres and shopping malls.
“This is designed to be the economic hub of the state when COVID-19 subsides,” he said.
Ojo-Lanre said that the iconic Arinta Waterfalls was also another tourists’ site awaiting visitor’s patronage post-COVID-19, an ideal place for relaxation, meditation, family gathering with lots of picnic spots.
“No matter how hot the weather might be, the magical water of Arinta makes sure that the weather remains pleasant for tourists in its proximity.
“There are also varieties of birds that are permanent contributors to the beauty of the place.
“Ekiti state is really set to accommodate and thrill tourists in post-COVID-19, as lots of fun await local and international tourists,” he said.