Louis Ibah
Worried by the poor contribution of the Nigerian aviation and tourism industries to the national GDP, the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) has called on the Federal Government to merge the two sectors into one ministry.
President of NANTA, Mr. Bernard Bankole, who hosted aviation journalists recently in Lagos, urged the Federal Government to take concrete steps to effectively coordinate and harness the potentials in the two industries as part of its ongoing economic diversification programme. Bankole who decried the inability of the country to tap into its tourism potential over the years, noted that the snag had been the absence of a synergy between the aviation and tourism ministries as it is the case with other countries of the world where tourism is a high income earner.
He therefore called for “a systematic and strategic re-alignment to drive Nigerian tourism through aviation.”
African examples
Bankole cited Rwanda, a country that emerged from the ruins of a bloody civil war in the 90s, but which quickly floated a national carrier, RwandAir having successfully merged it’s tourism and aviation industry with tourists now flocking to the country from different parts of the world. He also listed other African countries like South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt and Kenya as currently raking in millions of dollars yearly from their tourism and aviation industries because the two were merged to aid greater productivity, particularly with the establishment of viable national airlines.
“Even after a genocide that tore the country apart,Rwanda emerged with a good airline and the country is now using that airline to package it’s tourist sites and hotels to the world and in the process improving it’s revenue from the two sectors,” said Bankole.
“In Nigeria we are not showing any seriousness to unlock our tourism and aviation potential. Nigeria has never truly paid attention to the huge benefits that abound in its tourism. Tourism will never thrive alone without a partnership with aviation; the two work in sync. Tourism has to be married to aviation in Nigeria. This is a progressive partnership and policy decision that has helped other nations in the world to rebound on all indices of development,” he added.
The global trend
Globally, tourism and air transport industry complement each other. Tourism depends on transportation to bring visitors, while the transportation industry depends on tourism to generate demand for its services. The growth in tourism industry directly reflects on the air transportation industry.
Over the last 25 years, the number of international tourists has more than doubled. The expansion of international tourism has a large impact on the discipline of transport geography. Transport is the cause and the effect of the growth of tourism.
To start with, the improved facilities have stimulated tourism, and the expansion of tourism has stimulated transport. Accessibility is the main function behind the basics of tourism transport. In order to access the areas that are mainly aimed, tourists will use any transportation mode.
However, air transport is the main mode for international tourism. Air transport plays a dominant role in inter-regional movements of tourists, which normally entails travel over long-distances. Growth rates of international air traffic are pegged with growth rates of international tourism. Attractive package tours, competitive airfare attract more and more tourist day by days, therefore both the industry is expanding rapidly. About 6.7 million jobs worldwide are in tourism industry directly supported by the spending of foreign visitors arriving by air.
Travel agents can assist
Bankole said if aviation and tourism industries are merged, the synergy would allow travel and tour agents to do more to market the Nigerian tourism industry, noting that the tourism industry holds strong potential to boost aviation sector GDP beyond the current 0.4 per cent mark.
“As travel agents we know what happens all over the world; we know how aviation is used to unlock the tourism potentials in many countries around the world,” said Bernard.
“If you travel by air to London, there is a synergy between the city’s travel and tourism operators. From the airport, the taxi driver that picks you up begins to market the city; he sells the hotels and tourist sites that you have to viist. At the hotel, they also market London to you; the receptionists tells you where you can visit and helps to arrange the taxis for you. They are fliers all over the airport, hotels, and taxis or buses or trains of where you can go either for shopping or liesure. They make sure that you spend the money you came with there.
“Why can’t we do the same in Nigeria? What is stopping our airlines working with tour operators to market our country. Harnessing the potentials in our tourism industry is very important at this period in our country where we are struggling to resuscitate the economy. We need to work harder to open up the tourism industry now to boost revenue. We need to look beyond selling air tickets to selling our tourism destinations,” he added.
Because of quick and efficient transportation, people are spurred to travel for various reasons as destinations have become more accessible. Some of these reasons to travel are sightseeing – historical, cultural, social and technological. Sights relaxation – beach and mountain resorts. Sport – mountain, climbing, skiing, surfing, scuba diving. Special Interest – study tours on art, history, religion, culture and science. Shopping – personal and professional. Business and governmental – political, cultural, social and scientific reasons.
In Nigeria, so many tourists sites abound in cities such as Lagos, Calabar, Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Bauchi, Obudu, Benin, Osun, Oyo,Ife, Abuja, Lokoja, among many others. Nigeria needs to get its act right.
The establishment of a national carrier that can drive the marriage of the aviation and tourism industries becomes very necessary. That aspiration should be achieved this year. Experts estimate that the country can earn about $20billion yearly if the two industries are made to function at their maximum capacities.
It therefore behooves on the Nigerian government to merge the aviation and tourism industries together and allow officials jointly work out modalities on how to make maximum benefits of the dormant potential in the two sectors for national growth and prosperity.