The President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents (NANTA), Mr. Yinka Folami, has expressed worry over the alarming frequency of reports about huge losses incurred by travel customers through the purchase of cross-border tickets by some members.
According to Mr. Folami, the losses, which can reach as high as N25 million, are largely due to the non-refundable status of cross-border tickets and poor service associated with them.
In a statement, he highlighted several issues, including highly restricted tickets, delayed communication due to time zone differences, high incidence of no-shows, and the loss of large sums of money.
The NANTA president also addressed the role of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the issue, stating that IATA’s daily application of the Retail Open Exchange (ROE) rate, which is often higher than parallel market rates, encourages buying USD from the parallel market and purchasing cross-border tickets.
This, he said, puts further pressure on the Naira and has harmful consequences for the market.
Mr. Folami also criticized global merchants for selling fares that are not available in the Nigerian market, resulting in declining local sales and deficits for local players.
He warned that this could lead to capital flight, consumer effects, local asset devaluation, and eventual job losses.
Mr. Folami assured members that NANTA is working hard to stabilize the market and promised that the association will report any global merchants found to be undermining the market to the government.
He urged members to desist from buying cross-border tickets and advised that NANTA is committed to fair play and protecting the boundaries of the market.
“We will not allow the market to be devalued and turned into affiliates. FAIRPLAY is in the interest of all, and we will work together to achieve it.”
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