Despite the challenges in the aviation industry, tourism has continued to show its resilience, writes FRANKLIN IHEJIRIKA
The aviation industry and the hospitality sector are intertwined because what affects one also tells on the other.
This means that a boom in the aviation industry will also result in a boost in the hospitality and tourism sector.
In recent time, the aviation industry has been trying to adjust to every twist and turn following the COVID-19 pandemic.
But despite the devastating impact which many thought would lead to the collapse of the travel industry in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general, the industry has begun to bounce back, post-COVID.
This is against the background of the effect of the recent removal of petrol subsidy by the Nigerian government.
To the players in the industry, this development will likely affect the fortunes of the travel industry by reducing hotel bookings, minimising rate at which people travel as the cost of running hotels on generators may also be transfered to the consumers.
Speaking in an interview with TravelWatch, the president, Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), Mr Nkereuwem Onung, noted that removal of subsidy on petrol mostly affect road transportation.
He said airfares have not really risen so high except if one is travelling on that same day and is also doing their booking the same day.
For now, he said the hotel occupancy rates have not really been affected as the single exchange rate recently introduced by the federal government is helping the business since there is no more round tripping.
According to Onung, things could get better if the government succeeds in floating a national carrier.
Travel journalist and public affairs analyst, Mr Frank Meke, Nigeria was yet to fully mainstream the huge value chain of tourism and its component drivers such as aviation, hospitality, culture, and transportation ecosystems.
He pointed out that aviation, which is also a component of transportation, remains key and expectedly should form part of the fulcrum of tourism development and promotion.
“I recall the role of the defunct ADC Airlines which at its height of operation, facilitated the promotion of destinations such as Yankari National Park as the biosphere was known then, ferrying corporate organisations and their board members to hold their annual general meeting n the nature enclaves.
“ADC did the same for Obudu, with a shuttle taking people to the pristine location, which is about six hours by road from Calabar. Sadly, after the demise of ADC Airlines, others have concentrated on just moving persons and goods to airports around the country. Even if not all cities are captured, they have ignored the tourism value chain in air operation,” he said.
For his part, the organiser of Akwaaba Africa Travel Market, Mr Ikechi Uko, noted that the downturn in aviation industry in Nigeria is mainly on the domestic market as results available in 2023 show that international travels went up while travels within Nigeria went down.
He attributed the development to the series of public holidays and the 2023 elections.
“Usually when people don’t move, they don’t use hotels; they don’t use restaurants. As of 2022, Nigeria had the highest returns from hotels; our hotels in Lagos and Abuja did extremely well. But during the political season, hotels will do well, but when the airline business went down, domestic travels also suffered because when people don’t move, planes are not full and when planes are not full, the hotels are empty.
“Hotels can get people from land transport, but usually the top quality hotels depend on airline passengers. So this relationship between the two is something that should be encouraged; the leaders of the two industries must work together,” he said.
In her perspective the president, National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mrs Susan Akporaiye said the industry has not been the same post-COVID.
Akporaiye stated that the players in the industry thought the worst of it was the Covid, stressing that the outbreak of Covid was a contributory factor that affected a lot of countries in general.
She maintained that a lot of countries are still trying to recover, while a lot of African countries are still suffering from the after effect of pandemic.
“For us in Nigeria, it is a mixture of so many things; COVID came yes, brought us into recession, but unfortunately bad governance over the years has done more harm than COVID which only exposed the bad governance we had for over 40 years.
“You can’t be doing wrong things and don’t expect repercussions, the repercussions of the things we have been doing as a nation for over 40 years stares us in the face now. It is not just the effect of COVID alone, yes COVID contributed to exposing a lot of things that has always been covered up. When you continue to cover up things, you can’t cover it up for a long time. Whether we like it or not, we have to face reality,” she added.
As published in the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents, LAAC, Travel Watch Magazine, July 2023 edition.
