The organiser of Akwaaba Africa Travel and Tourism Market, Ikechi Ukoh, has said that efficient service delivery remains a major challenge hindering Nigerian airlines from expanding, as most of them only see themselves as transporters and not service providers.

Uko who spoke on the sidelines of the recently concluded 19th edition of Akwaaba, which held in Lagos, said many Nigerian airlines have failed to take advantage of the huge tourism industry in Nigeria unlike their foreign counterparts, many of whom have holiday arms.

“For most domestic airlines, they see themselves as transporters, they do not see themselves as service providers, so coming to where the big boys play, you will understand how the big boys engage. Service is key and you can see that Valuejet and Ibom Air that are here have high service standards and this counts in how you position your airline. If you can handle hard questions here then you can handle it at the airports, so, you wonder why almost all international airlines have holiday arm. ET Holiday is here. You know about BA holiday, you know about Virgin Holiday. Which Nigerian airline has a holiday arm? Service has been our challenge, so I am impressed that Valuejet and Ibom Air are here, they can lead the charge so that others can learn,” he said.

Reacting to the turn out at this edition of Akwaaba, he said: “It exceeded our expectations. We thought it was the one we had in 2010 was the best because we had three presidents in attendance. Later, we had the one of 2018 which we said was the best. We predicted that this year’s edition would be huge because of the diversity of the participants. This year, we had the highest number of exhibitors and 70 different organisations, which is very good, but the satisfaction that my clients have had so far has made me very happy.

“I am delighted that the tourism market is back and I am happy that there are so many Nigerian tourism operators playing. Before, Nigerians believed that tourism is only when you go abroad but suddenly, we are having Nigerians with the confidence to come out and say that they have a good tour product to sell. The 2024 edition would be our 20th anniversary, so we want it to be grand. There is no other place in Africa where the players in travel business meet each other. Any travel exhibition you go to is dominated by non-Africans except Akwaaba. If you look around, 80 percent of those here are Africans. It is the only exhibition not subsidised by the government. When we bring the best products here, it is for our players to know how to market them. Nigerians believe that before you sell tourism, you have to go on CNN but the real people know that it is not how to sell tourism.

“Toursim is built on trust. For me to put the lives of 100 people in your care, I have to trust you and build a relationship with you. One of the countries that came today told me that Nigerians are one of the best business people they have met. They go to other countries and it would take like three months before you conclude a business. But that yesterday, they concluded business with so many people. This gives the oppourtunity for Nigeria to engage the world and that is why we say this exhibition is where Africa meets the world. I can tell you that those who came here for the first time said that they are going to come back better. Almost everyone who exhibited has booked a bigger stand for next year because they like what they had this year.”

During Monday’s session, he said that there is a lack of people who will lead Nigeria’s travel industry in the next generation and encouraged major players in the field to mentor people for this task. He encouraged the players in the tourism industry to invest in educational and medical tourism, saying that it is the future of tourism and to train youths who will be in line to replace them in the work that they are doing.

“The problem is not the problem of the youths. It is the problem of those of us who had gone through those doors. Yeah, we pay the price. How many people are we leading to walk into the place of the future? It’s not just in this industry. The next generation problem in Africa is real. The only place we are not having that problem is probably in fintech. In most other industries that I’ve been to, they’re having a problem of creating stars for the next generation.

“The future of tourism in Nigeria is going towards two things: Education and medicine. Education has always been there. The more people get successful, the more they care about their health, the more they care about what they eat. They want to enjoy what work they do. For you, we just brought a new business, one billion dollars’ worth of business out of Nigeria, and it is going to grow. So, if you’re in tourism business, you just do leisure and business traveling, you don’t do medical, you’re missing something.”