Photo caption:
From L-R: NANTA President, Bankole Bernard, Vice-President, NANTA Lagos Zone, Mrs. Adelola Adewole and Frank Meke, Media consultant at the NANTA breakfast meeting with Journalists in Lagos on Saturday January 27
The President, National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) Mr. Bankole Bernard has disclosed that their members sold over $1.4b in tickets for foreign airlines in 2017.
Speaking at the January 2018 media breakfast with tourism and aviation Journalists in Ikeja, Lagos Saturday January 27 on the redemption of aviation and tourism sectors in Nigeria,
Bernard stressed the need to re-position the country’s travel and tourism industry and to draw the attention of the government to the huge opportunities in the sector which they may not see.
He said NANTA is working closely with the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, NTDC to grow the tourism industry.
NANTA boss queried what is stopping the Nigeria airlines from partnering with tour operators to sell many exciting destinations in Nigeria.
He observed that it will be very difficult for the domestic airlines to thrive in the country with plethora of government charges and taxes.
He urged the government to hold a stakeholders meeting on how the domestic airlines can survive, stressing that the domestic airlines need to fly to destinations that are profitable to their operations.
He observed that tourism will not thrive in Nigeria when the Agencies are buried under Information, Culture, National Orientation and Tourism and under one Minister who cares more about information and other areas.
On its Identity Card scheme, NANTA President said the Association will be most delighted to see the ID Card scheme come to reality when is launched in March for only the body’s approved and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA endorsed operators.
According to him: “This would not only change the perception of the general public, but give a sense of belonging to the practitioners within the industry and be seen as true professionals that we are, which will automatically eliminate fraudsters.
The immediate and future gains of this scheme are numerous and in due course, we shall invite you to the public unveiling of this strategic security product that will question and check the prowling of our business lines by fake and fly-by-night operators. Let me state earnestly that with this card, which has the backing of government aviation regulatory agencies, the days of spoilers in our midst are over”.
On the NANTA Act: Bernard noted that this enabling legislative backing is the ultimate dream of the founding fathers of the association and a responsibility to which his leadership must deliver.
He explained that the trade line cannot survive on long term if the body fails to mainstream the entry and exist regime which must capture sanitizing processes and mechanisms as is done globally.
NANTA boss said work has again begun in earnest on the project which has been on the drawing board of the association in the past 40 years.
He disclosed that this year NANTA is going to hold its elective Annual General Meetings, AGM in Port-Harcourt which he would be seeking for re-election.
Bernard said his seeking for re-election is to consolidate on their laudable programmes and to seen them to completion.
NANTA president explained further that : “In picking the destination, we are mindful of the fact that a national association such as NANTA with over 6,000 (Six thousand strong members) cannot pretend that our memberships outside Lagos, Abuja, Kano do not desire to feel the impact of our reach and influence, hence the decision of the BOT and my presidency to hold the AGM in Port Harcourt, the heart of Eastern and Southern Nigeria. In due course, the AGM committee will roll out programme for the AGM and we will call on the people and government of Rivers state to brace up and support the convention which will attract investment and good will to the people of this noble state”.
Bernard also reviewed and reflected on the challenging times of 2016 and the early part of 2017, particularly with the difficulty of foreign airlines to access and repatriate funds, the closure of Abuja Airport, almost concurrently which added to the strain of doing business in Nigeria, without minding the near collapse of facilities at the country’s major gateways, Murtala Mohammed and Nnamdi Azikwe Airports in Lagos and Abuja and the rate of exchange to purchase tickets which was increased to N360/$1 which made the cost of purchasing tickets in Nigeria unbearable.
He said NANTA’s response to these issues was driven by the patriotic desire to help the country, the travelling public and their members work together to find an effective solution that would quickly restore normalcy.
Bernard lauded the Presidency, the National Assembly and the Minister of Aviation for hearkeing to their voice of reason and pragmatism which brought relief and helped arrest the then growing quest of foreign airlines to close-shop in Nigeria.
“As you may wish to recall, we embarked on visits to most of the foreign airlines to appeal against the mad rush out of Nigeria at that telling period. The added support and backing from media owners, who saw to our point of argument and took to editorials and informed analysis to convince the relevant authorities to do the needful, saved our aviation sector and its downstream value chain,” he said.
On the recent position of Nigerian airlines under the auspices of Airline Operators of Nigeria concerning African Open Skies, which is saying no to open skies or YD until policies are put right in Nigeria, Bernard noted that AON is not serious on their position.
He said African will not wait for Nigerian airlines to be ready before implementing African open skies or Yamoussoukro Decision (YD)
In her remarks, Vice-President, NANTA Lagos Zone, Mrs. Adelola Adewole stated that with the ID card, NANTA will be able to monitor the industry and check the activities of fraudsters who activities are affecting their business.
Adewole said a lot of things will change with the introduction of the ID card by NANTA.
She advised the government to used the rising oil money to invest in th development of tourism in Nigeria.
