The Sun News Online

This week’s Travels aim at throwing up possibilities of practical and affordable trips or arm-chair travel. Better still, the reader can have both. But, much as we want to encourage travels, we personally think domestic tourism would really help the local hospitality industry.

This is the reason, we commend Prince Femi Oluwasina and Mr. Ikechi Uko, who while pursuing their travel businesses, also appreciate the importance of “not only taking Nigerians abroad, but also working to ensure that foreigners come our way too.” Of course, there are other stakeholders like Oluwasina and Uko but we can only accommodate this duo in this piece.

Believe it or not, you too can take your spouse to Barbados. Prince Femi Oluwasina, CEO of the ever-growing travel and tour outfit, Jethro is concluding arrangements to take select participants to the Caribbean Island of Barbados: For a fee. According to the Jethro CEO: “It’s our way of offering an opportunity to say thank you to your spouse or partner, who has stood by you through thick and thin. We want couples to go somewhere far, free of distractions, to say thank you, and sort of rekindle their love, if you know what we mean?”

But, while today’s Travels hint at enjoying an unforgettable Valentine in some faraway land, those that cannot, for whatever reason, exploit this opportunity also have a choice in various domestic packages offered by Jethro Travels and Tours, Prince Femi Oluwasina’s outfit, which turns eight this year. Eight years down the lane, Jethro is keen to lead in the attempt to re-engineer certain aspects of the tourism business. Oluwasina again: “Like most companies, Jethro also encountered teething problems at infancy, but through perseverance and resilience we overcame them and now, we’re surviving.”

If he hadn’t been doing better than just keeping his head above water, things shall be brighter for Jethro in the nearest future, for the man revealed that after discussions with Lagos State authorities, Jethro has been granted 65 hectares parcel of land for a proposed wildlife resort within the Lekki Free Zone. Calm and unassuming, the prince stressed that it all points in the direction of more, and more, work.

Tourism might be about leisure and hospitality, but it takes a lot of work to get where you’d rather be, he intoned.

Prince Femi Oluwasina, who revealed Jethro Tours maintains special relations with Ogun State, his home area, in southwestern Nigeria, also boasts a network that covers several countries, including South Africa. The Jethro chief named Umzantsi SA, a South African outfit involved in creative marketing, as a major partner in the austral parts of the Mother Continent.
Jethro Tours’ regular beats include The Hidden Treasure tour of Ogun State, a tour of South Africa’s Sun City, tagged Unbelievable Adventure and packaged for kids every December as well as ISREALITY.

Decoded, ISREALITY, which is an annual tour of Jerusalem every Easter, could be explained as Israel “is reality.” According to Prince Femi Oluwasina, Isreality 2008 would take each participant to various historical sites in the Holy Land, such as River Jordan, the Dead Sea and so on, for a fee of US $2, 600. If we thought the cost sounded rather high, it turned out somewhat low, when the master guide explained it was inclusive of visa processing, roundtrip ticket, hotel accommodation, meals and souvenir to participants.

Oluwasina added that Jethro Tours usually conducts this pilgrimage in conjunction with Sar-Shalom Travel Nigeria Company, and that Bank PHB is official banker of the expedition designed to stimulate the faith of each traveller and help him or her “tap into some business opportunities.”

Usually, Jethro’s Sun City adventure takes the kids on guided tours of the settlement and Mandiba Museum, where universally respected senior citizen Mandiba Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for decades before his release and eventual enthronement through popular ballot as South Africa’s first post-Apartheid President. During Sun City Adventure, the children are quartered in a three-star hotel and ride in airport taxis throughout the duration of their sojourn, enthused Prince Femi, who was quick to add that Jethro was not only involved in getting Nigerians to visit foreign lands. As a patriotic and responsible corporate citizen, Jethro set considerable store by two-way flow of tourists. That way, money also comes into Nigeria to make up for whatever the foreign-bound adventurers take out of the country.

This is where The Hidden Treasure tours of Ogun State comes in. The weeklong Ogun State tour, which takes the visitor to the famous Olumo Rock, Palaces of the Alake of Egba Land and the Olota of Ota, Iperu-Remo, which the organizers claim is the origin of the iconic Lagos masquerade Eyo, as well as Ojude-Oba Festival in Ijebu Land, among others, is one of Jethro’s strategies for what Travels wants to call the “tourism dual-carriageway.”

Apparently alluding to the suspicion that tour operators that only encouraged Nigerians to travel abroad contributed to capital flight, Prince Femi Oluwasina remarked: “Over the last seven years, Jethro has guided people to various destinations, especially France and South Africa but now, we’re looking deep with regard to in-bound tourists. This is why we have a very strong relationship with Ogun State.”
Ikechi Uko: Man behind Africa Travel perennials

And talking about trips: Many people with enough money to spend a holiday in countless an exotic spot, sometimes simply can’t find the time to do so. A large number of such people do enjoy destination-writing or travel and tourism publications. This is where Uko surges into view. However, it must be noted that each of his publications are relevant to both the physical traveller and the arm-chair adventurer. And we’d soon clue you in.

The media propels tourism to an extent that could be hard to imagine. In fact, the media is one wheel without which the tourism vehicle cannot be driven. All over the world, the media can make or mar any industry: Tourism without media support is akin to an attempt to cage smoke in a basket. Across the Nigerian media, there has been a noticeable growth in the number of tourism and hospitality industry news in the last few years. There are now more columnists, correspondents, presenters and reporters as well as new papers and programmes on tourism, but there are veterans, who were here, long before many people decided to jump on the bandwagon. As regards Nigeria’s tourism media veterans, several names cross the mind, but Travels would focus on Mr. Ikechi Uko for now.

Mr. Uko is more popularly known as publisher of Africa Travel Quarterly (ATQ) and The Traveller nowadays, but many remember that years ago he rode to popularity on the back of The Travellers Weekend, a publication he floated out of his passion for the tourism industry. He had earlier earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geography. Although The Travellers Weekend wasn’t paying its way, Uko, ever tenacious, continued to fuel its appearance.

By the time he realized that Travellers Weekend was a weak product, he had done 55 editions. “Writing about travelling in Nigeria was not working, and before realizing that Travellers Weekend was a weak product, we had done 55 issues,” he recalled.

Although the magazine never sent him smiling to the bank, Uko learnt invaluable lessons from that venture. Hear him: “We did a study of the local hotel industry, and realized that only 10 hotels in Nigeria deserve the name. Therefore, it wasn’t a surprise that Travellers Weekend was struggling: The market simply wasn’t big enough: Abilities apparently too big, whereas the market was too small.” he remarked.
Although publishing, his chosen area of tourism, is not among the more lucrative aspects of that trade, Uko’s efforts have not gone unacknowledged: The man had apparently gained worldwide recognition. Hear him: “An online publication, e-tubor news, appointed us one of their ambassadors in Nigeria. Also, we are bureau head of some travel-based media around the world.”

Speaking to Travels in his residence, Mr. Uko said he has no regret whatsoever devoting some 20 years to the tourism industry. He observed that some of his peers/friends in the banking industry probably count their money in hundreds of millions, but he is happy that he devoted at least 10 years of his life trying to master the route he had chosen to follow.

As part of that research, Uko had spent a month in the US “studying virtually all black magazines.” It was after that sojourn he decided to create something unique in the form of ATQ. He admits that at N1, 500 per copy, that travel quarterly seemed very expensive and elitist. He went on to explain, however, that the price was not as exorbitant as might seem because, “The money simply went into sustaining quality.” Uko further explained that ATQ couldn’t be cheaper because airfreight cost is rather high and ATQ was conceived to cover West Africa. “This is why ATQ is one of the few magazines available in hotels across West Africa,” Uko enthused.

Nonetheless, ATQ would eventually be reinvented. From a quarterly, the magazine’s frequency is now bi-monthly. Apart from being issued once, every two months, ATQ now carries a cover price of N500. Furthermore, the contents have also been visited by re-engineering based on conclusions drawn from research by Uko’s company.

Expatiating, he added: “One can say that the first life cycle is now complete. Now, we’re moving to the second phase. This is why ATQ did not come out for six months. That break was necessary because ATQ went back on the drawing board. Basically, the contents are 50 percent each on food and drinks, on one hand and 50 percent on destinations on the other. The few copies of ‘Bon Apetit’ we put out sold faster than ATQ ever sold. Bon Apetit was very popular, especially among women, but ATQ enjoyed respect of all airlines’ managing directors.

“Now, there’s still strong aviation news, but side by side with Nollywood, for example. We were pleasantly shocked in 2003 by the massive reception it got during its launch. And we were roundly commended at the World Travel Market (WTM), when we presented our new publication.”
However, there’s more to this publication than meets the eye. And Uko helped to bare it all: “Only Eko Hotel and Hilton, two of the best in Africa can appear on our cover. Even if others are willing to pay millions, I won’t accept. I’ve had so many offers. No one else had done in the world.”

Also, the magazine’s cover never featured any human being in many years, until recently. Uko again: “This is true. We recently had a woman on the cover for the first time. However, the first human being to ever adorn our cover was Sir Richard Branson.

“Truly, ATQ has evolved: we’ve added new dimensions to the business we do. We’re now also into the only travel exhibition in Africa. This is Akwaaba. Instead of sending people out, we actually bring tourists into Nigeria,” he enthused.

Finally, “to be able to grow tourism in Nigeria and reach a larger readership,” as Uko put it, ATQ was not only reinvented, the overhaul gave rise to a sister paper called The Traveller, which sells at a more affordable price of N100, per copy. Shedding some light on the motive for this latest addition’s low cover price, Uko said, “This new paper and cover price would ensure that we keep pace with our loyal travel readers. And from this year, 2008, every airport, all hotels would have The Traveller, Uko concluded.