…targets trade boost with Nigeria

By Jimoh Babatunde

Barely a week after the leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) returned from a trade penetration and visa regime advocacy visit to Istanbul, supported by Türkiye Airlines, the Ambassador of Türkiye to Nigeria, Mr. Mehmet Poroy, announced that the stringent visa ecosystem of Türkiye would henceforth be eased to encourage travel, tourism, and trade between the two countries.

NANTA, led by the president, Mr Yinka Folami, during the Istanbul trade tour, had impressed it on the minds of the Turkish Travels Association Leadership (TURSAB) that the visa regimes of the Türkiye nation are hurting trade and tourism visits by Nigerians and solicited interventions by the influential Türkiye travel trade group to ease the pain.

Speaking at the Türkiye culinary week in Abuja last week, the ambassador stated that his country would relax the visa regime, noting that Nigeria and Türkiye have a lot to benefit from open trade in commerce and tourism, with the Türkiye government targeting about five (5) billion US dollars in trade boosts and a forty (40) billion US dollars target from the African continent, at the implementation of ease of visa regimes and engagement by the two nations and Africa in general.

NANTA President, excited by the response of the Türkiye Ambassador to Nigeria, urged the Nigerian government to quickly address the visa regime concerns of the Türkiye travel trade and business community wishing to also visit and do business with Nigeria, reiterating NANTA’s desire and advocacy to open and invite the world to Nigeria.

“We at NANTA are excited by the prompt response of the Türkiye Ambassador in Nigeria to our request during our marketing and promotion penetration visit to Istanbul. We did not do this alone, as we see the new development as a supportive gesture from the Turkish Travel Association leadership and Turkish Airlines management, and without their support, our advocacy visit would have just been another wasted opportunity and rhetoric exercise.”

Meanwhile, about ninety (90) registered members of the association arrived in Banjul, Gambia, in the early hours of Tuesday morning to the warm embrace of the drummings of the cultural troupe here, with the state immigration officials making sure the Nigerian travel trade professionals have a stress-free entry in the smiling coast of Africa.

The group on a week training, training and retraining exposure expedition was flown into Gambia by Air Peace, the official carrier for the association, which also announced other partners such as the Djeliba group – owners of four exclusive luxury beach resorts: the Kombo, the Tamala, Halifax, and the Balafon Apartment and Tanala Voyage.

The Gambia Tourism Board is the host partner, while the Gambia Tourism and Hospitality Institute facilitated the training certification programme.