Chinedu Eze
Travel agencies have confirmed that many Nigerians will not embark on summer travel this year due to the current economic crunch and continuous depreciation of the naira, which in the last two weeks have been oscillating between N1, 500 to N1, 550 per dollar.
Compared to last year, travel agents who spoke to THISDAY, said that more Nigerians travelled for summer in 2023 than this year and expressed fear that unless the economy improves, international travel for holidays will continue to shrink.
The Founder and Managing Director of Travel Lab Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Shalom Asuquo, told THISDAY that people who did not take advantage of the crash of airfares in March and April this year found it difficult to pay for tickets because the fares started going up, as the naira continued to depreciate.
That was the period when Air Peace started the Lagos-London route and the International Air Travel Association (IATA) confirmed that the Federal Government had paid most of trapped fund of foreign airlines.
There was drastic drop of fares on international travel but the fares have gone up and have continued to go up.
Mrs. Asuquo said those who did not take advantage of that window have found it difficult to purchase tickets at the current rate and some of them are even asking travel agencies to allow them to “pay small, small.”
“Those who did not make their plan to travel earlier in the year when there was drastic drop of fares when Air Peace started flight service to London, are finding it difficult to buy ticket now because the fares have gone up. Some are even asking us to allow them pay small, small. I have a group of women who are travelling to Kigali, Rwanda. The bill was about N900, 000 per person but when I wanted to book the flights, I found out that the fares have gone up. This is major disincentive to Summer travels.
“I did a package for a family at the cost of N14.6 million to Canada but when I wanted to do the booking, the fare went up again and they told me, please do something. This is the situation now. Many people are not travelling,” she said.
The Managing Director of Travel Lab Limited also disclosed that due to the high fares, travel agents try to get cheaper fares by taking other routes to the desired destination but the challenge there is that with such detour there could be visa problems.
For example, a holiday maker who wants to travel to Canada may want to go through Spain or Morocco to get cheaper fares but even on transit some countries require visa, some of them transit visa, which would take time to obtain.
“So, when you reroute there will be visa issues. These are the issues playing out. You may have a route that is cheaper, there will be visa restraint,” Asuquo said.
Also, the Chief Executive Officer of AJALA.NG Travels, Olamide Babayemi, told THISDAY that fewer number of people are demanding to travel for the Summer because of the depreciation of the naira, which has led to increase in airfares.
“Compared to last year, the number of people who have purchased ticket to travel for the summer are actually lower. Exchange rate has increased the fare for all travel service. Some are cancelling their bookings while some have not purchased tickets. Those who bought ticket by this time last year were higher,” she said.
THISDAY learnt that when the fares for international travel crashed in March and April this year, many expected that it could remain so because some were attributing the high fares to the trapped fund, which Nigeria had the highest at bout $800 million. So, after paying off the airlines; many Nigerians projected that fares would continue be at the reduced rate because, compared to other countries around Nigeria like Ghana, Togo and others, fares charged by foreign airlines are outrageously higher in Nigeria, but with further depreciation of the naira, the fares went up again.