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Louis Ibah
Travel and tour operators in Nigeria say they generated about N565billion as revenue from the sales of tickets for international and local airlines in 2018.
President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mr. Bankole Bernard stated this at the 2018 pre-Annual General Meeting (AGM) press briefing held yesterday in Lagos.
He, however, said the sales figure could have been higher if foreign travel agents were prevented through a local content law from selling tickets for travellers based in Nigeria by foreign travel agents.
“We now have a new threat to the industry; some foreign airlines are partnering with travel agents in their home countries to issue tickets to Nigeria-based travellers and the tickets come cheaper than what is sold in Nigeria,”Bernard said.
Bernard explained that the airlines and foreign travel agencies are taking advantage of a new Global Distribution System (GDS) launched by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) which now allows an unhindered sale of tickets to passengers from any part of the country.
But he said a local content law which had been clamoured for in the last six years could have insulated Nigeria from the demerits of the GDS if the policy was implemented.
“This trend is really hurting the local travel agencies and the Nigerian economy. We have a situation where airlines will encourage Nigerians living in Nigeria who are their known clients to use foreign cards to pay for tickets issued by foreign travel agents and all the transactions will take place offshore with the airlines retaining all the monies in their countries and no money passes through any Nigerian bank just as no tax comes to Nigeria,” he added.
Bernard expressed the fear that if the trend is not curbed it could lead to the collapse of many travel agencies and the loss of jobs by Nigerian workers.
“Travel agents are losing accounts and revenues. Selling tickets to Nigerians from offshore and flying those passengers outside from Nigerian airports is rather an exploitative position. It is against the norms. Even FAAN and the NCAA are losing revenue from the five per cent ticket sales tax they get when tickets are purchased in Nigeria,” Bernard said.
“We may not have a local carrier but that does not mean that the government should not take steps to protect the local industry. It was done in the oil and gas industry; it can be done in aviation downstream sector where travel agents operate,” he added.
