In its resolve to use tourism as a weapon of uniting the African continent for the seamless connectivity and the integration of the continent through air transport, the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) in conjunction with the Tour Operators of Union of Ghana (TOUGHA) will be leading other tour operators across the continent to South Africa to deliberate on ways to make the business of travel agencies more seamless and profitable.
The President of the NANTA, Mrs Susan Akporiaye at a press conference in Lagos said to strengthen the tourism business in the continent, that the South African government has agreed to host an International Travel and Tourism Conference (ITTC) in Johannesburg where tour operators from the continent will gather to deliberate on factors militating against their business with a view to proffering solutions.
Akporiaye used the opportunity to announce April 27th as the date for NANTA’s 47th Annual General Meeting (AGM) coming up in Abuja.
The AGM she said will afford the tourism body the opportunity “to learn from experts about areas of our business that must be addressed and improved upon. No doubt, the travel world is incredibly interesting but there are also areas of concern; such as trapped funds, monopoly, unfair practices, border and visa issues and whole lot of emerging complexities.”
The theme of the AGM which is ‘Professionalism: A Key to Surviving Aviation Downstream Turbulence and Its Exploitative Effects’, will feature the Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Mr Tunde Irukera who will be speaking on not only how “NANTA can confidentially protect our businesses and clients, but also on how to navigate challenges of foreign airlines trapped funds and its impacts on our businesses.
However still speaking on the conference coming up in South Africa between May 4th and 11th, 2023, which Akporiaye described as a hybrid multi layer tourism industry conference, she revealed that the conference will be the first of its kind in Africa and even globally.
The NANTA President equally confirmed that the federal government has started defraying the trapped funds of the foreign carriers even though in trickles.
As at February this year, the trapped funds had accumulated to a whopping
$743,721,027 million in Nigeria, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the amount that would have further increased.
Out of the humongous amount, only 10 per cent of the total $74 million owed the foreign carriers has been paid back by the government as at last week.
Confirming the development, the president of the National Association Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mrs Susan Akporiaye said the federal government has started paying the foreign carriers in trickles, a situation which has made the international airlines tha e started bringing back their low inventory fares which they had earlier withdrawn.
The withdrawal of the lore inventory ticket sales from the Nigerian travel agents was an action taken by the foreign carriers to protest against their trapped funds in the country.
NANTA also told journalists in Lagos, last week that some of the foreign airlines, which hitherto blocked their lower inventories against the travel agents, have started opening them up for sales.
Akporiaye called on the government and the airlines to work together for the benefit of the travelling public even as lamented how the travel agencies were one of the most hit by the crisis of the trapped funds.
Her words: “There is no 100 per cent halt; for instance, somebody is expecting $100,000 and he is getting $10,000. The payment is going on in tiny trickles. When we had a meeting with the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, he never actually told us some people were given preferential treatment.
“No, all of them are all in the situation in which it is just in bits and pieces. The window is still open for them to do their normal two weeks bidding but whatever comes in is very insignificant.”
She further explained that steps were being taken to address the airlines trapped funds, monopoly, unfair practices, border and visa issues and a whole lot of emerging complexities by NANTA.
Nigeria is presently the highest indebted country to the foreign airlines according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
