Agents lament low travel rates over forex, tickets’ hike
The travel agents in the country have ascribed the low traveling rates to instability in the forex exchange and increase in the airlines ticket fares, stating that there brainstorming to tackle the challenges and boost the travel demands in the post COVID-19 era. Brainstorming during the PartnerPlus Connect (PPC), a vibrant, an interactive live session […]
The travel agents in the country have ascribed the low traveling rates to instability in the forex exchange and increase in the airlines ticket fares, stating that there brainstorming to tackle the challenges and boost the travel demands in the post COVID-19 era.
Brainstorming during the PartnerPlus Connect (PPC), a vibrant, an interactive live session organized by Finchglow Travels in Port Harcourt, Rivers State over the weekend, which was designed to deepen engagement between trade partners and airline collaborators, the industry stakeholders also lamented that the advent of technology has impacted negatively on the rate of travels.
The Managing Director of Finchglow Travels, Mr Ezekiel Ikotun, said the forex issue has posed a challenge to the travel sector, urging the agents and customers to be professional in their operations.
He said the PPC, with the theme “Boosting Travel Demand, Airline and Consolidator Insights” brought together top international and regional airlines, including Emirates, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Air Peace, and SABRE, alongside long-standing trade partners from across Nigeria’s travel sector was aimed at consolidating knowledge and equip them on how to be professional travel agency.
He said: “Travellers’ buying strength has gone down due to so many factors, including; forex, when airlines funds were trapped, airlines had to increase the ticket fares, and that has affected the travel behaviors of our buyers.
“2019 was the highest, when we look at the industry revenue, but as we speak, we are yet to reach that milestone, simply because of the forex challenge. At that time the exchange rate was below N300, as we speak, it’s like N1500. But there has been a tremendous improvement, in the post COVID-19 when it has to do with travel, I am hopeful, I’m optimistic that by next year, we will meet the stage we were in pre-COVID-19 and then start to scale up.
“So, because the origin and destination violation which was mentioned as Agency Debit Memo (ADM), was due to a high fare, and in a bit for some travel agencies to be able to beat the fare and get something relatively cheaper, they have to go as far as manipulating or being creative with the inventory, that was what gave birth to the violation, but when it comes to the demand, sincerely it’s still very low, though human movement can never be restricted, human being will love to travel, but as we speak, we know the economic situation of our country, even corporate travel has gone down.
“With the arrival of technology, there are people that are supposed to travel abroad for training, right now, they will just do virtual, however, human movement is sacrosanct, there is nothing you can do about it, but the business is getting better.
“Immediately after COVID-19, the recovery was very slow, but we have achieved 92% recovery rate, as at 2025.”
Also speaking, Business to Business Manager at Finchglow, Abiola Bakare and the head of operations, Ebiere Bekesuo, said the company has introduced different fares for customers, such as humanitarian fares, diplomatic fares and Marine fares, because they are using our position as a leading travel consolidator in Nigeria.