From Tony John, Port Harcourt
National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) Eastern Zone, has expressed concerns about how Nigerians are daily losing their hard earned income in their quest to travel outside the shores of the country.
Vice President of NANTA, Ehiogie Hope, expressed this in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, when he briefed journalists ahead of their Eastern Travel Market 2025 event in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State, from 27th to 30th August, 2025.
He lamented that while Nigerians focus on the amount they had spent to get visas in travelling abroad, no one mentions thousands of potential travellers, who spent their hard earned money without getting travel documents and approval.
Hope said the essence of Eastern Travel Market 2025, with the theme ‘Culture Unveiled’, would be to market the tourism potential available in the eastern part of the country.
The vice president added that over 1,000 travel professionals and enthusiasts from other countries would storm Uyo to witness the tourism ecosystem, which has remained untapped.
“By 2026, the projection is that tourism-related businesses would be an influx of over $12 million. And that is a major spike from last year (2024), which was about $4 million.”
According to him, “About two years ago, the number of Nigerian travellers was about 17 million people. Now, let us not even talk about the intended travellers who were denied visas. Why you cannot get the accurate number of Nigerians intending to travel is because you are only looking for successful ones. Nobody talks about those who did not succeed.
“The fact is that those who applied for visas but could not succeed are not calculated as part of the ecosystem. Whether you like it or not, the journey started. That money has been wasted.
“Some countries charge Nigerians over $300,000 just to get their visas. And at the end of it, they would still not get the visas.”
Hope noted the tourism industry in the country, especially in the Eastern zone, lacked visibility and there is need for the practitioners to increase inflow.
“So, if you want to say what we are losing, it would be in proportion of the opportunities we are foregoing. This is because we have not created the environment. We don’t have visibility,” he added.