L:R: Mr. Yinka Folami, VP NANTA and President, NANTA, Mrs. Susan Akporiaye
The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agency, NANTA, says, some foreign airlines have started opening up their lower inventories for sales.
President of NANTA, Mrs. Susan Akporiaye who disclosed this at a news conference in Lagos ahead of its 47th Annual General Meeting, AGM said, since the last engagement with the media, the Minister of Aviation and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, some foreign airlines have been cooperative.
According to her, what they want is for all of them to cooperate fully for the greater good of passengers and other partners in the business.
“We want to really sit down learn, understand what is our portions each time we come to a crossroad like this, what is open to us, when it look as if you are all alone, no way, you look to the left on the government side nothing, on your right on your partner side nothing, so when do we start?.
She said, payment of foreign airlines trapped funds is still ongoing but not in the volume that is expected by the airlines.
“There is no 100% halt, for instance, somebody’s expecting hundred thousand and he is getting ten thousand, its going on in tiny trickles. When we had a meeting with the minister he never actually told us some people where given preferential treatment, No, all of them are all in the situation in which is just in bits and pieces, the window is still open for them to do their normal two- two Weeks bidding by what comes in is very insignificant”.
Mrs Akporiaye says steps are being taken to address the airlines trapped funds, monopoly, unfair practices, border and visa issues and a whole lot of emerging complexities.
She stressed that, these would be discussed at their 47th AGM in Abuja with the theme: Professionalism: A key to Surviving Aviation Downstream Turbulence and its Exploitative Effects.
NANTA says, it is also collaborating with the Tour Operators Union of Ghana, TOUGHA to host a hybrid multi-layer tourism industry conference endorsed by the South Africa Tourism in Johannesburg, South Africa next month.
Mrs Akporiaye said, both bodies will assembly the best faculty from the university of Johannesburg on tourism enterprise and related businesses, to help define and determine the immediate and future drive of the industry, its profitability, and challenges.
“This unique conference, which will be certificated, is open to individuals, organizations, and agencies in Nigeria and Ghana, particularly those with eyes on impacting positively on the growth and sustainability of the various value chains in the African cultural tourism economy”.