By Bianca Iboma
The President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents (NANTA), Bankole Bernard, has urged the government to pay attention to the foreign exchange rate due to the impact exchange rate has on the travel industry.
He made the call during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association held in Lagos.
Bernard said dollar rate has deeply affected the industry because predominantly, it is the major means of exchange and the impact it has on foreign exchange made some international airlines withdraw their operations from Nigeria.
Bernard added that by nature, travels and tourism is an international business, which conduct and transactions make use of the dollar for payments for overseas trips and other services. Sadly, exchange rate is fluctuating sharply and government efforts have not been able to stabilise the value of naira to the dollar and other foreign currencies.
Some agencies’ operators and members of the association in Lagos have decried the infiltration of untrained personnel in the sector. The trend, which is detrimental to the wellbeing of the industry, needs an urgent intervention for the business to grow. According to them, the sector is a specialised field that requires in-depth training.
They expressed worry that travels and tours business has become an all comers affair because there are no government policies in place to protect it from infiltration.
Another travel consultant, who spoke under anonymity, said that members need to be educated about the risk involved in the various policies so they can know how to managed it.
Although every business has its challenges, it is important that members of the association are educated concerning the policies enacted by the association for the growth and development of the sector. “Every business has set goals, but when unprofessionals handle it, this would be impossible to achieve. With the training, it won’t be difficult for them to understand the fundamentals of how to do the job.”
She advised that operators in the industry should not give out credit facilities to clients because it is usually difficult for one to get back their cash, especially when they mix pleasure with business. “Some people just open an office and say they are running travels and tours. You cannot close them, but they are spoiling business for the genuine agents. Even though there are registered members of travels and tours, these untrained ones still find their way into the business,’’ she said.
While the Chief Executive Officer of Know Your Customer (KYC), Glenda Labinjo, said security risks are changing by the day, saying that is why in credit bureaux they offer some vital information about a potential client by giving a detailed account about their clients to know if thy are credit worthy or not.
Labinjo said it is important for operators to collaborate with KYC so they can get some referrals or intervene in certain clients who cannot afford credit facilities yet want to patronise them. They can actually identify unscrupulous people if NANTA deploys every system to curb the operations of fake agents in the system, she pointed out.