The National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), says it is taking drastic steps to sanitise the operations of travel agencies in the country. The union said the exercise is aimed at weeding out fraudulent persons/establishments parading as travel agents in the country and duping unsuspecting members of the public.
President of NANTA, Mr. Bankole Bernard, stated this in his presentation at a stakeholders meeting held recently at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Annex building in Lagos. Bernard said NANTA would soon launch a “Travel Practitioners Identification Project” to register and regulate all genuine travel agencies in the country.
The project, he explained, would entail the issuance to every registered member of NANTA a unique identification number as well as an identity card, which will authenticate the person to operate in the country as a legitimate travel agent. He said there are over 6,000 travel agencies in the country, but lamented that only 9 per cent of that number are registered by NANTA, noting that it makes it difficult to monitor and regulate the profession.
“Every travel agent is now required to register with NANTA in compliance with the NCAA Act. In fact, every member is expected to register by September 1, 2017 with N3,5000 and all registered members must abide by the code of conduct of the profession,” he said.
NANTA president expressed disappointment on the way the industry is currently being administered, saying there was need for greater collaboration between airlines and travel agents to grow passenger traffic and revenue for both parties.
He said if Nigeria could work out a scheme that would get 10 per cent of its population to travel by air, the country might become a natural hub in West Africa.
In his remarks, the Director General of NCAA, Captain Muhtar Usman, applauded NANTA on the new initiative. He said NCAA would collaborate and support NANTA on the move to sanitise the industry because of the negative image the activities of these fraudsters are causing the industry.
“We need to know who is who in the travel agency industry to get things right and reverse the negative perception brought about by these fraudsters,” he said.