National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies, NANTA, has revealed how the country lost its travel market to neighbouring countries, saying that high airfares pushed Nigerians into travelling from surrounding countries that offered cheaper fares.
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Idrinstitute.jpg")
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024.lidw_.jpg")
President of NANTA, Mrs Susan Akporiaye, said although the situation generated revenues for the travel operators, it was a loss to the country because taxes that would have accrued to Nigeria was lost.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos, yesterday, Akporiaye, however, identified clearing of international airlines’ trapped funds, Naira steady appreciation against the dollar and release of lower fare inventories by foreign airlines as reasons for airfares’ reductions in the country.
She said: “Majority of the tickets we sold were out of Nigeria. Those sales were not attributed to the Nigerian market. If we access the Ghana market or any West African country market, they would see unusual growth, while it is a downward trend for the Nigerian market. This is because the airlines closed the lower inventories while the same lower inventories were open in other markets.
“It was difficult for us to get foreign exchange. The restrictions put by the airlines because of foreign exchange availability led to a drop in sales from Nigeria. Our members had to put up a survival mechanism.
“So, what we did as travel agencies was to move our sales to other markets. Interestingly, travel was still from Nigeria. Passengers still travel from Lagos to London, but the tickets were bought in Ghana. So, the revenue will be attributed to Ghana, not to us.”
Akporiaye also stressed that the last four years of her leadership as NANTA President had been challenging, noting that foreign airlines’ trapped funds, restrictions of the lower inventories to travel agencies from Nigeria and unstable foreign exchange, which stopped some passengers from flying through the nation’s airports, made her job difficult.
She, however, called for peace and unity as NANTA prepares to elect a new president on April 26, saying: “ I am not leaving behind a sword for NANTA, but peace and unity. The elections will come and go, and NANTA will be better for it.”
NIALS' Compendia Series: Your One-Stop Solution For Navigating Nigerian Laws (2004-2023)
Email: info@nials.edu.ng, tugomak@yahoo.co.uk, Contact: For Inquiry and information, kindly contact, NIALS Director of Marketing: +2348074128732, +2348100363602.
