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An estimated $1.4 billion was spent by Nigerian air travellers in the purchase of airline tickets in 2017, says the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA).
President of NANTA, Mr. Bankole Bernards, who stated this in a press conference over the weekend in Lagos, however, lamented the incursion of Nigerian banks into the air tickets sales business, saying their encroachment had denied hundreds of registered or licenced travel agencies of millions of dollars of annual income.
Bernards said NANTA has concluded plans to drag some banks it caught engaging in the illegal sale of air tickets before the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Assembly, noting that their activities constituted a breach of the Nigerian banking as well as travel agency laws.
“Some banks have opened counters where they are selling air tickets to customers and this is a violation of the law because only registered travel agents are allowed to sell tickets in Nigeria,” said Bernards.
“In 2017, Nigerians spent about $1.4 billion on tickets but it didn’t really benefit travel agents because of the banks that are now selling tickets as part of their business. We are taking this case to CBN and the National Assembly because they are not licenced for such operations in Nigeria. They are threatening our business and should be sanctioned,” he added.
Bernards also lamented the inability of Nigeria to harness it’s vast tourism potentials for nation growth and prosperity as was the case with other African countries like South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, and Kenya. Bernards cited the failure merge the Federal Ministries of Aviation and Tourism together as done by other countries as the reason for the slow pace of development of the tourism sector. “Travel and tourism are in sync and we can’t separate them and expect tourism to grow and earn us revenue,” he said. “Travel and tourism has been neglected in Nigeria and we are suffering from it,” he added. He said NANTA would be launching
