Nigeria Generates 97% Tourism Revenue from Domestic Travel

• Nigeria Generates 97% Tourism Revenue from Domestic Travel

Nigeria generated 97 per cent of its tourism revenue from domestic travel in 2016, a new report has confirmed.

According to the report, while domestic travel accounted for 97 per cent of the country’s tourism revenue in 2016, foreign travel made up the remaining three per cent.

The Nigerian Hospitality Report 2017 was officially launched by Jumia Travel on Monday.

While viewing the content of the report at a press briefing in Lagos on Monday, the Managing Director, Jumia Travel Nigeria, Mr. Kushal Dutta, mentioned that despite the security challenges in the country and the fall in dollar exchange rate, a lot of Nigerians preferred to travel within the country to spend their holidays at exciting tourist destinations.

Following the fall in the value of the local currency last year, the number of international travellers and holidaymakers had reduced drastically.

In April, people travelling outside Nigeria were required by foreign airlines to buy tickets in dollars instead of the local currency.

A return trip from Lagos to the United States in the economy class cost travellers $1,100. Passengers unable to access the official exchange rate of N197 to the dollar were left with the option of buying dollar at the parallel market rate of N350.

This practice, coupled with the rising dollar rate, had contributed to more Nigerians cutting down on their foreign trips and spending their holidays at home.

A hospitality consultant in Nigeria, Mr. Bruce Prins, said the industry in 2016 suffered extreme pressure as a result of a reduction in foreign visitors and local corporate expenditure.

He added that the price war between many hotels undermined the hospitality industry’s perceived value, and also created a lot of degradation in quality.