We need private sector driven national carrier to market Nigeria’s tourism — NANTA
We need private sector driven national carrier to market Nigeria’s tourism — NANTA
Carrier
By Taiye Olayemi
Lagos, March 6, 2020 (NAN) The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) on Friday said that having a national carrier driven by the private sector would aid in marketing Nigeria’s tourism sites.
Mr Bankole Bernard, National President of NANTA, said this during a news briefing on NANTA’s 44th Annual General Meeting slated to hold in Kano from March 25 to March 28.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of NANTA’s 44th AGM is: ” National Carrier: A Remedy to tourism and Economic Development”.
“With national carrier, to sell nation’s tourism assests becomes easier for us.
“This national carrier should not be government driven but private sector driven for efficiency.
“We as an association needs the national carrier to drive traffic into the country and grow our tourism sites,” the NANTA president said.
According to him, most countries which has made remarkable impact in the travel and tourism sectors has their national carriers which serve as ambassador to every location they fly to.
Speaking on NANTA’s 44th AGM, Benard said facilitators from across African continent would address participants on role of the aviation industry in Nigeria’s economic development and impact of technology on the travel business and the tourism sector.
“As drivers of the downstream sector in the aviation industry, we shall look at how tax policies affect our interventions and presence with a view of birthing new narratives.
“We will have discussions and lectures from guests like Mr Sunil Kumar, President, Universal Federation of Travel Agents Association (UFTAA), International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s Director Global Distribution.
“Others are: Mr Mohammed Wanyolke, Chairman, Kenya Association of Travel Agents, Mr Richard Mujjuzi, Uganda Association of Travel Agents and a host of others,” he said.
He said the AGM would be holding in Kano to promote tourism assets of the North to the world and allay existing fears of insecurity in the northern part of the country.
Bernard said his team had in the past four years roused NANTA from near-death and restored the dignity and future of travel trade professionals in order to keep Nigeria’s tourism and travel sector in focus.
He noted that with the introduction of the NANTA identification card, security operatives were able to arrest and prosecute fake travel agents who had defrauded intending travellers of their hard-earned money.
According to him, the association can now boast of having over 1,600 card-carrying members as membership keeps increasing.
“NANTA under my watch carefully re-engineered the fertilization of global relationships which today had made Nigeria a destination to watch out for.
“We are happy that NANTA members are no longer seen as fly-by-night operators but serious professional contributors to the GDP and growth of the national economy.
“We have successfully brought NANTA to the consciousness of everyone,” he said. (NAN)
PTB/WOJ
Edited by Wale Ojetimi
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