By Kehinde Fafiyebi

Nigeria has the ingredients for a tourism boom — dramatic landscapes, a kaleidoscope of cultures, world-class festivals and two UNESCO World Heritage sites. Yet for many travel agencies in the country the inbound-tourism dream remains frustratingly out of reach. Instead of promoting Nigeria as a bucket-list destination, agents spend most of their energy resolving visa headaches, arranging outbound travel and managing safety concerns for would-be visitors. The result is huge untapped potential, with businesses squeezed between a rich cultural product and a stubborn, negative global narrative.

International arrivals to Nigeria have been modest compared with some African peers. Recent datasets show the country receiving about 1.2 million international visitors in 2023 — a fraction of arrivals to tourism powerhouses like Kenya or South Africa. At the same time, tourism’s measurable contribution to the formal economy is still small: accommodation and food services together account for under 1% of real GDP in recent quarterly NBS breakdowns, even though broader tourism-related activity is acknowledged to be larger when informal services are included. These figures underline both the potential and the scale of the challenge facing travel agencies that want to sell Nigeria as a destination.

One of the most persistent obstacles travel agents encounter is perception. International headlines about security incidents, travel advisories and political instability tend to dominate searches and impressions about Nigeria. Official travel advice from several Western governments highlights risks including violent crime and kidnapping — information which many potential tourists see first and weigh heavily when deciding whether to visit. For travel agencies pitching Nigeria, these advisories are often an early and decisive hurdle to overcome.

Locally, the contrast is striking. While visitors can be enthralled by the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove’s century-old sculptures or stunned by the suspended lake at Ado-Awaye, outbound searches and social-media narratives are more likely to surface negative stories. The Guardian’s reporting last year captured this tension well, noting that Nigeria is “abundant in potential” yet under-visited, with infrastructural shortages and security concerns frequently cited as limiting factors.

If a single event illustrates both what Nigeria can do and what still needs fixing, it is Carnival Calabar. The festival has grown into one of the country’s largest cultural showcases: state tourism authorities reported over 300,000 onsite spectators during the 2024 season and a large global streaming audience, evidence that with coordination and investment, Nigerian events can draw huge interest. But organisers and agencies still face challenges, including limited accommodation capacity in Cross River State, high domestic transport costs and seasonal reliability problems that complicate package creation and pricing for international tour operators. Travel agencies that specialise in cultural and festival tourism see Carnival Calabar as a proof-of-concept, but one that needs scaled infrastructure and safer, more predictable logistics to become a stable revenue stream.

Nigeria’s Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is another double-edged sword. The grove draws serious cultural tourism interest, yet it is fragile and faces management challenges. UNESCO reports have repeatedly warned that increased visitor numbers without a formal tourism management plan put the spiritual and ecological integrity of the site at risk. For travel agencies trying to include Osun-Osogbo on curated heritage routes, the protection-versus-access dilemma creates added responsibilities — and often extra costs — for guiding, conservation fees and responsible programming.

Travel agencies trying to sell Nigeria face a combination of perception and practical barriers.

Infrastructure gaps remain significant, with inconsistent roads, power supply and airport systems degrading the visitor experience. Even when flights are available, poor last-mile road quality or luggage delays leave agencies dealing with the reputational fallout. While pockets of high-quality hotels exist, many tourist areas lack internationally competitive lodging and services. That mismatch forces agencies to either accept lower-quality partners or add expensive logistics to ensure satisfactory experiences. Formal travel advisories from some countries also discourage potential travellers and pressure agencies to offer costly mitigation, private security, or bespoke itineraries. Compounding this is the lack of a long-running, well-funded national tourism brand capable of reshaping international perceptions, as previous rebranding attempts have lacked continuity and government-wide commitment. States often run festivals and attractions on their own, while the federal ministry has limited resources, leaving agencies to coordinate multiple actors at the local level — a costly overhead.

Many agencies have responded creatively. Some focus on the diaspora market, creating high-value, culturally immersive “roots” packages that attract second- and third-generation Nigerians from Europe and the Americas. Others build niche eco-tours and partner with state tourism boards for festival promotions. Still others pivot largely to outbound travel business, where demand is steadier and profit margins more predictable. But these adaptations are only stopgaps. Agencies know that to scale inbound tourism they need predictable airline capacity, consistent safety in key tourist corridors, upgraded accommodation and a national brand that reassures international markets. Without those, the market remains niche — interesting but not transformative for the industry.

Experts and industry players suggest several practical steps. A sustained, well-funded campaign spotlighting safe, market-ready destinations and packaged experiences such as festivals, heritage trails and eco-lodges could gradually change search-and-booking behaviour. Targeted investment in infrastructure at priority sites — roads, power, waste management and quality lodging near five to ten flagship attractions — would create replicable models for expansion. Improved public-private coordination is also critical, with tourism boards, state governments and agencies needing clear roles, an easier licensing process for tour operators, and incentives for private investment. For heritage areas like Osun-Osogbo, formal visitor-management plans and reinvestment of entrance fees into conservation would preserve authenticity while expanding capacity. Targeted security measures for high-traffic tourist routes could reduce risk perception rapidly without requiring nationwide security shifts, creating safer corridors for visitors.

For travel agencies, selling Nigeria is not just a commercial task but also an act of cultural stewardship. Agencies currently balancing outbound bookings with an aspiration for inbound growth are uniquely placed to craft experiences that respect heritage, uplift local communities and generate foreign exchange. But they will not succeed at scale without targeted investment and a long-term narrative shift. Nigeria’s festivals, UNESCO sites and natural wonders prove that the market exists. Carnival Calabar’s hundreds of thousands of spectators and Osun-Osogbo’s global recognition are evidence that international interest is real. What is missing is the infrastructure, security confidence and strategic marketing to convert interest into sustainable visitor flows. For agencies, that means an opportunity: with the right partners and public support, they can move from selling apologies and caveats to selling Nigeria with pride. The prize is not only more tourists, but also new jobs, preserved heritage and communities that benefit when the world finally sees Nigeria beyond its headlines.

Dr. Kehinde Fafiyebi is the founder/CEO of Fafkay Integrated Services Company Limited.