Unfair Trade Practices Hindering Tourism Growth in Nigeria, Encouraging Capital Flight, Says FCCPC, NANTA

The National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents (NANTA) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) have expressed concern over the large number of air tickets for the country’s market being generated outside the country’s shores, popularly referred to as Sold Outside Ticket Outside (SOTO) or Sold Outside and Ticketed Inside (SOTI), even as international carriers have all released their lower ticket stocks for the Nigerian market.

They are also concerned about the trend of domestic and foreign airlines having ticket sales points beyond airports; a situation they say has negatively impacted the business of travel agents in Nigeria.

They described the cross-border stock trading of foreign airlines, which has impacted Nigeria’s travel economy, as a monster that must be tackled head-on and destroyed.

The situation, as many have said, has affected the revenue that is supposed to go to travel agencies and the country in the form of taxes, thus affecting the continued existence of many travel agencies.

Your flight ticket is a SOTO (Sold Inside Ticketed Outside), Sold outside Ticketed Inside (SOTI) or Sold Inside Ticketed Inside (SITI) which makes a big difference in fares. Due to special rules and regulations in fare construction, tickets sold outside the country of origin (SOTO) will incur additional fees.

For example, if a British traveler buys their ticket in the UK but is traveling from New York to Los Angeles, it will be a SOTO ticket. Depending on where these operations are in relation to the traveler’s origin, tickets can also be SITI, SITO or SOTI, specifying inside or outside.

What these agencies based outside Nigeria are doing according to a travel expert who spoke to Aviation Metric System is that they prefer to issue notes from Nigeria, pay in Nigerian currency, the naira, but collect dollars from their customers.

The Acting Vice President of FCCPC, Alhaji Adamu Abdullahi, said the trend, if left unchecked, is dangerous, worrisome and poses an economic threat to the Nigerian economy that must be halted before it negatively affects the plight of Nigerian travellers and the livelihoods of Nigerian tourism professionals; leading to job losses and also frustrating efforts aimed at stopping capital flight out of Nigeria.

The FCCPC boss, who spoke on Wednesday in Abuja during a courtesy visit by the Chairman and Executive Council of NANTA to his office, assured members of the tour operator trade group that his agency would tackle the monster head on and restore sanity to the seemingly dysfunctional travel industry.

He also expressed concern over the incessant flight delays and cancellations that have marred the joy of air travel in Nigeria.

“We will be very rigorous in this and other notable breaches in the aviation sector, particularly in relation to airlines that treat passengers as if they are not important. It is sad to simply cancel or delay flights without carrying passengers, and if you have to cancel flights or cause a delay beyond a reasonable time, the operator must show us evidence of operational difficulties.”

Abdullahi commended the leadership of NANTA for their foresight in engaging and partnering with FCCPC to enthrone equity and fair play in the Nigerian travel economy, noting that a technical committee would be set up by the Commission to work out the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NANTA to help sustain the relationship.

“NANTA has demonstrated its capacity and technical know-how on how best to organize and manage the tourism market, and we at FCCPC can only encourage this patriotic zeal by being partners in maintaining a credible and efficient business climate, responsive to global expectations and regulations in force in the sector.”

“We cannot understand why foreign airlines would want to leave the vicinity of airports to open commercial offices in city centres, which harms the activities of licensed tourism professionals. These issues are before us and we will address them through detailed investigations and dialogues if necessary.”

NANTA President, Mr. Yinka Folami, disclosed that the association was at the FCCPC to commend the management of the consumer protection agency for helping to stabilise the fragile and ailing Nigerian travel sector, especially during the foreign airlines blocked funds saga, which created and caused untold hardship to the Nigerian travelling public and travel agents, causing losses to plummet by about 40 per cent in the Nigerian travel market.

“We are concerned about the decline in the market value of our business, especially due to cross-border trading (unfair encroachment on global outlets) by traders who may be caught and punished as their unhealthy activities have led to capital flight out of the country, exposing Nigerian consumers, trade professionals and even foreign airlines operating in Nigeria to huge losses.”

Folami also said NANTA was concerned that such unfair trade practices could make it difficult for small and medium enterprises to grow in Nigeria, leading to job losses and impacting the country’s GDP.

Present at the meeting were the former President, Mrs Susan Akporiaye and Mr Bolu Agbaje, Partner of Pinheiro LP.

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