New Telegraph

Tourism Development: We need govt to synergise with private sector to address our worries –Bonney

Annabel Bonney, a travel specialist, is founder of Travel Africa and Travevo Travel and Migration Agency, also, she is a life coach with experience in lifestyle, fashion, and TV presentation/production, who describes herself as a ‘serial’ entrepreneur, spoke with ANDREW IRO OKUNGBOWA on several issues bordering on Nigerian tourism development and promotion Excerpts…

How would you describe the present state of Nigerian tourism?

Very poor, and it is sad because we have extremely great tourism market and potential that we are not paying attention to. Nigeria is blessed by Mother Nature with incredible landscapes, sites and weather. Have you been to Obudu Mountain Resort in Cross River State? Oh my God that is such a wonder to experience. Then Ikogosi Warm Springs in Ekiti State, where you have clear blue warm spring from the ground, then the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba State, then the Awhum Waterfall and Caves in Enugu State and many more breathtaking places we have in Nigeria. No one is paying attention to build something out of these places and sustain them. Nigeria is very fixated on oil, what happens if the oil becomes depleted? I wish Nigeria can treat tourism as oil, the commodity which I can guarantee has more potential to contribute enormously to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We have landscapes, just develop them, people will come. Consider countries like Dubai they built everything in a desert with the harshest weather conditions but millions of people troupe in to spend billions that would contribute to 11.6% of their GDP by 2026. Also consider the amount of jobs developing our tourism sector can create? So the potential is truly enormous.

What should the government then do to fast track the development of domestic tourism?

Start now, develop attractions, build resorts around where we have these phenomenal landscapes. And for existing resorts like Obudu Mountain Resort, they’re currently battling with challenges beyond their control like power generation (Electricity). Obudu has battled power problem for years, they do their best as a business but it is not enough. Sleeping in the dark in a wild resort where you can have squirrels crawl up in your room or bed at night gives room for concern. Then accessibility is another challenge as Obudu is far out, about eight to 12 hours from Calabar and about five to seven hours from Port Harcourt. If the resort had a dedicated carrier that that could fly people from Calabar Airport, Port Harcourt Airport, Abuja Airport respectively it will drastically cut the number of hours spent on the road and also the worry of being kidnapped for ransom. This brings me to my next point, security: We have to be able to drive inter-state for weekend stays, and not be scared or afraid as it was till 2015.

As a tour operator, what are some of the critical challenges hindering tour packages in the country?

I’ll take them one after the other. Bad roads: Gone are the days one would drive Uyo to Calabar or Uyo to Port Harcourt or Lagos to Badagry to enjoy drinks, delicacies, sights and sounds with friends and families. Right now you can’t do that anymore because the road networks are super bad. So in packaging a tour you have to consider road drive worthiness. Poor maintenance culture: Many attraction sites become dilapidated after the initial buzz frizzles out. The place becomes a shadow of what it used to be because it’s not being maintained. Case study: Tinapa, Marina Resort, Obudu Mountain Resort; all in Cross River State and many other resorts and sites.

Lack of initiatives and incentives: Many tourist sites lack proper management that can create enticing tours and activities for people to explore. No reward plans too. So why would people want to go there?

Security: It is very unfortunate the state of insecurity we are in as a nation. The pandemonium in the north, east and recently the west is alarming. This is actually the major reason why we are not encouraged to promote local tourism because you organise a trip to Ikogosi or Obudu or Kajaru and your stress level rises because you have to keep praying and hoping that your clients are not kidnapped for ransom or killed by unknown gunmen. It is a very saddened state to be in.

What are the challenges you face as well packaging outbound tours?

Naira devaluation, affordability and high travel cost: Between 2017 and 2019 travel used to be very cheap. You could host over 20 and 50 people on a trip, people had money and could pay. Regional destinations like Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa didn’t cost so much. You could do five nights trip to Ghana for 250,000 but now return tickets alone are about that price or more. Kenya then we could build and sell a trip for 450,000 but now that destination is selling for over 700,000. The naira devaluation has contributed so much to high travel cost and that aside hike in ticket fares due to high cost if aviation fuel.

How do you then cope with these challenges?

Not everyone can afford these trips anymore due to affordability. Most families who would typically travel between two and four times a year can now only travel once a year. So we do the best we can, we help advise on the best cost effective destinations and offer the cheapest deals we can find. What is the future of tourism in Nigeria and are well are you prepared in taking advantage of this? Frankly, I do not know, usually I’m able to forecast trends but no with the way things are going now. I’ll rather watch. The political climate is very tensed now and tourism potential will be determined by who runs the affairs of the country next. So until then we watch and hope that the best man who will listen and act wins.

What is your advice to the government in developing and promoting tourism?

In the last five years, only Lagos State has been able to sell tourism to an extent, there’s still a lot to be done in terms of activities. Why don’t we have helicopter tours, ziplining, bungee jumping, parasailing, and paragliding? I know Lagos does not have the structure for most of these activities so they have to build synergy with neighboring states that have high level mountains like Ondo State. Therefore, we need the government to create a synergy with the tourism sector stakeholders and offer solutions to most of these concerns. Because at the end of the day we are working towards a common goal of creating a buoyant economy and creating jobs for Nigerians.

Read Previous

2023: NHA to engage hoteliers on improving performance

Read Next

Eko NAFEST 2022: Stakeholders pledge commitment to festival

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *