The Nation Newspaper

Tag: travel

  • Namibia to market tourism assets at Akwaaba African Travel Market

    Namibia to market tourism assets at Akwaaba African Travel Market

    The Namibian Ministry of Tourism and Environment and the Namibian Film Commission will be showcasing at the only international tourism expo in West Africa that takes place in Lagos annually. Namibia, with its wild Skeleton beach, the famed national parks and picturesque city of Windhoek, offers a composite blend of attractions that appeal to the adventurous, the sedentary and the urbane shopaholic, the types that have been flying out of Nigeria in huge numbers recently.

    West Africa, with a population of over 270million people, has two of the fastest growing economies in the world in Ghana and Nigeria. Nigeria,with over six million international passengers, generates over $1.25b from flight tickets annually. Today, almost all the leading African and Middle east airlines are increasing flights into Nigeria with the rapid rise in passenger figures. Ethiopian Airline is the king over the Nigerian skies with daily flights into Lagos, Abuja and now Enugu. Its sister airline, Asky, has flights into Lagos and Abuja. Kenya Airways flies twice into Lagos and is about to start Abuja flights. Emirates flies twice a day to Lagos and soon to Abuja, Etihad and Qatar are all hauling huge figures from the ever-growing travellers. Nigeria with 167million people has only 15million passengers annually which is less than 10% of its population. So the trend will be upwards in the coming years.

    Air Namibia flies to Ghana and will soon start flights to Lagos and Akwaaba provides a huge opportunity for Namibia to reap from the huge West African travelling public who patronise South Africa and Dubai as first choice of regional destinations.

    Namibia now joins The Gambia in planning big for Nigerian Travellers at Akwaaba. ”As you are aware The Gambia Day has always been a very important activity for The Gambia on Akwaaba .“ This is according to Adama Njie, the Director of Marketing for The Gambia Tourism Board. The Gambia celebrates The Gambian Day at Akwaaba African Travel Market that takes place in Lagos,Nigeria annually. The preparations for this year’s edition is in high gear.The Gambian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Her Excellency Mrs Angela Colley-Iheme, is a permanent fixture at all major tourism events in Nigeria, winning friends for the country. She was the special guest of honour at The Abuja Bantaba event early July.

    The Gambia, as part of its strategic plans, had planned a study tour of Nigeria by its tourism technocrats to further understand the market. According to a position paper by The Gambian authorities, the Nigerian market is important to the growth of travel and tourism in The Gambia. In the Gambian context, tourism is considered a strategic sector and the engine that drives the economy. Therefore, to increase the arrival numbers during the green season the adopted strategy is to promote sub-regional tourism where Nigeria is identified as an important market.

    This decision was as a consequence of a strong participation in and attendance to Nigerian travel shows, increased travel industry, increase in Nigerian Banks and collaboration with Nigerian regional airlines and media. Today Nigeria is the fastest growing market for The Gambia, having registered over 8000 arrivals by air alone in 2011. The Nigerian market is a “high end” and “high spending” visitors (higher than most of our traditional European markets), with only three hours flying time (far less than travelling from Lagos to Victoria Island).

     

  • Abta hosts business travel forum in Lagos

    Delegates from all over the country will be visiting Lagos on June 11 for the ABTA Business Travel Executive Forum and Cocktail Reception being hosted at The Wheatbaker Hotel.

    This event is aimed at companies who send staff on business travel throughout Africa and across the globe, as well as the region’s leading TMCs, travel agents, airlines, hotels, travel press and more.

    The event will feature keynote sessions delivered by the country’s foremost experts on business travel, addressing the current trends, challenges and opportunities within the West African airline industry, practical solutions for day-to-day difficulties faced when moving travellers around Africa, updates on the business travel best practice in other African hubs and a roundtable open industry discussion on supplier and customer relationship management.

    The event will end with a Networking Cocktail Reception hosted by The Wheatbaker Hotel.

    “We are extremely excited to be visiting Lagos again in June,” said ABTA founder, Monique Swart. “This region is always so extremely vibrant, pulsing with opportunities, and we are looking forward to providing some high-class educational contents and networking opportunities to assist local industry professionals in keeping their finger on the pulse of the Nigerian business travel industry.”

  • ‘I started stealing when I couldn’t travel out’

    A 27-year-old man, Amode Adewale, was yesterday remanded in prison custody for allegedly stealing a Mazda 626 salon car, valued at N850,000, and N30,000.

    Adewale allegedly committed the offence at Christ Avenue, Araromi Jimoh Aliu area of Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

    The stolen items belong to Mr. Adebayo Adekunle.

    Adewale’s counsel urged the court to grant him bail on liberal terms, but prosecution counsel Ewuola Ebenezer opposed it.

    Magistrate Bayode Owoeye said although “the Nigerian Prison system is not reformative”, he had no option than to remand the accused in prison custody.

    He said Adewale was granted bail last Thursday when he was arraigned for another offence, adding that “one of the conditions for granting bail was the possibility that the accused would not commit another offence”.

    The case was adjourned till January 28.

    Adewale said he started stealing because he was defrauded while trying to go to Malaysia.

    He said he was a marketer of petroleum products until his plans to travel out collapsed.

    Adewale said: “I was a petroleum marketer, but they defrauded me when I was trying to travel to Malaysia. I am from Erin-Osun. I went to learn printing in Osogbo, where my father stays, but the business is not doing well.”

     

  • NFF writes Mali FF on team’s travel plans

    Miffed by the delay tactics deployed by the Mali Football Federation to keep their itinerary close to their chest, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has written the West African side to provide their travel plans ahead of their weekend CAF U17 Championship qualifier against the Golden Eaglets.

    The NFF’s Assistant Director (Media), Demola Olajire in a brief chat with SportingLife explained that the country’s football house resorted to sending a letter to Mali after waiting endlessly to hear from their November 18th foes in the first leg of the final qualifying round slated for the U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar.

    He informed that the Mali FF said they would make available their itinerary only after their meeting on today.

    “We have just written to the Malians after we waited without any official word from them on when they are billed to arrive Nigeria.

    “They replied that their travel plans would be decided on Wednesday after holding a meeting to that effect. We don’t want to be caught unprepared. So we are preparing towards Friday as their likely day of arrival,” Olajire said.

    The Eaglets had defeated Niger Republic and Guinea U17 teams in glowing fashion in the earlier rounds and if they surmount the obstacle called Mali, Nigeria will be staging a return to the CAF U17 Championship scheduled for Morocco next year for the first time since 2007 when the Late coach Yemi Tella tutored side last won the competition for the country in Togo.