Nigerians love travelling. That is why tourism employs thousands, even as many operators are small players. Tourist companies, which have been adding niche services to their bouquet, now arrange tours in the country and in foreign lands.
Schools and corporate bodies are the major clients, but high net worth operators are also doing well on the platter of Nigerians’ adventurous spirit.
Leisure boat tours
“Nigerians travel a lot and tourism is a big industry capable of replacing oil as a foreign exchange earner,” reiterated Bravo-Alpha Chief Executive Officer, Bukky Akintobi.
“We have a lot of tourism potentials in this country. What is needed is the enabling environment for tourism operators.
“Most Nigerians would like to visit tourist sites in the country. But it is not just for a tourist to go and look at beautiful scenery – the rocks, the green fields, and all that. Tourism is more than these.”
Akintobi, an IATA (International Air Transport Association) chartered tourist operator, said a tourist would like to visit a place that would add value to his life.
“He would want to visit places where he would make business connections and things like that. This means that tourism development is not about having good tourist sites.
“It includes where you can have general convenience for the period you are in that place. Efficient electricity, communication, good roads, and security are the very vital things.”
Fascination with marine routes
Akintobi had cut her teeth as a travel agent with the likes of British Airways, where she worked for 23 years before retiring in 2005 when she established Bravo-Alpha.
Boat tour is about the most leisurely form of travel tours, she said, because of curiosity to see marine routes in contrast with everyday environment.
“Naturally, a frequent flyer would at a time get bored with aircraft noise and would like to taste travelling by the waters when his schedules can accommodate travel by sea. It is much fascinating.”
Most Nigerian flyers travel for business in Europe, America, and Asia. So cruise boats on African waters or beyond are not common. Only high net worth individuals and corporate organisations can afford the cost, the protocols, and all the immigration do’s and don’ts that go with a boat cruise.
Bravo-Alpha connects individuals and groups to choice cruise destinations, as revealed through comments posted on its website.
“Thanks Bravo-Alpha for making my day. I enjoyed the cruise. I felt I did not want to step out of the waters again,” one client, Chude Jideonwo, said.
Kemi Akindoju wrote: “I look forward to when I would cruise round Nigeria and Africa through the waters. I’m glad to become a Jerusalem pilgrim through Bravo-Alpha. I will come again on the next pilgrimage.”
Another client, Ziki Giwa, posted: “I am impressed at the high level of integrity they showed. They actually are interested in making sure your package is satisfactory.”
“Travelling by sea will soon become as par in convenience with flying. There is error in the assertion that air is the safest means of transportation today. It may be the fastest, but the sea remains safest,” Chris Worthe, also a client of Bravo-Apha, posted in his facebook account.
October cruise via Rome, Malta, Greece
Bravo-Alpha is booking leisure tourists and pilgrims for October who would travel 14 days from Rome to Jerusalem via Malta and Greece on a multi-deck ultra-luxurious cruise ship built in 2000 and unveiled in 2011. it has capacity for 2,886 passengers.
The ship has state-of-the art rooms costing $3,000 per person, ocean view state room ($3,600), and balcony state room ($3,800). Moderate rates, considering the distance and all the treats on the way.
Another attraction that keeps clients coming back to Bravo-Alpha is flexible payment.
Pilgrims cruising to Jerusalem in October began payment in tranches early in the year. In the minimum rate category, the first payment of $1,000 was completed on March 31; the second $1,000 on May 31; and the last $1,000 on July 15.
The rates do not include international flight tickets and visas. They cover fare, all taxes, government charges and gratuities, insurance, meals and entertainment on board, round trip airport transfers, three-day bus excursion in Israel, guide, entrance fees to sites and monuments.
Jerusalem Pilgrim certificates and one-day excursion in Ephesus in Turkey are issued. Tourists to Israel through Bravo-Alpha connection have visited Valetta in Malta, a masterpiece of history, St John’s Cathedral, and some of the most beautiful harbours in the Mediterranean.
They have also enjoyed the maritime world via Olympia, the famous tourist destination in Greece, birthplace of the Olympic Games.
Jerusalem as main destination
Jerusalem is the main destination where tourists cap leisure with the divine touch of the Holy Spirit because that was where Jesus Christ was born.
Akintobi dispels the thought that frequent hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians affect the passion for pilgrimage.
“Israel is a holy land. The pilgrimage is in October. Before that time, the present hostilities between Israel and Hamas would have ceased.
“There have been crises between Israel and her neighbours for ages, long before Bravo-Alpha came into being. And year in, year out, we have been connecting people to the holy land. So the crises will not affect it.”
Catching on
Other travel operators which have diversified into luxury boat cruise in the past five years include Jemi Alade Tours, Leisure Afrique, Nike B Tours, Sentinel Travels. They are also into excursion for schools and corporate bodies.
Rich cruisers
Boat cruise in Nigeria for now is mainly for the rich. Some of those who own yachts are Femi Otedola (Forte Oil), Aliko Dagote (Dangote Group), Oscar Ibru (head of the Ibru conglomerate), Tony Elumelu (UBA Chairman), Tinuke Folawiyo, and Deinde Fernandez.
Problems
However, problems range from cost, and Nigeria’s unsafe waterways, which a travel agent, Jude Ugwuanyi, said are littered with sediments.
His words: “The nautical mileage is risky for any tour operator to want to invest in luxury boat cruise, unless you act as an intermediary to established tourist firms who have such boats. For instance, there was a time the Lagos state Government bought a controversial cruise ship to boost tourism in Lagos.
“What are you hearing about it now, whether it is still Lagos State property or being operated by any other Nigerian company. How many Nigerians can afford the luxury of boat cruise? May be once in a while or a corporate cruise.
“You can even see that, every day we are battling with ordinary water hyacinth, and the nation’s seabed is still littered with debris.
“There was a time the government said it was clearing the waterways of debris. But how far and how safe? These are some of the risks you factor in before embarking on cruise boat services.”
Akintobi noted that “Nigeria still has a lot to do in the area of developing and promoting tourism in the country because tourism goes beyond viewing beautiful scenery.
“Insecurity, power and absence of conducive environment for a tourist visiting Nigeria hinder the growth of Nigeria’s tourism endowments.”
“Tourism in Nigeria is the most unexplored sector of the economy. You have what they call boat Regatta, and all sorts. But that is only at ceremonies,” added Chike Onuogu, an agent with Landover Travel Agency.
“These regattas can be marketed to earn money for Nigeria. You hear, for example, Formula One racing and all that kind of stuff in Europe and the Americas. It is part of their recreational culture, but it earns them a lot of money, not only for the players but for their governments.
“Nigeria is blessed with abundant water bodies, but sadly, these natural endowments have not helped the tourism sector, partly due to the kind of policies we run here and the ethnic politics that go with it.
“Also due to the reluctance of the Nigerian entrepreneur to leverage on the cabottage law meant to empower indigenous shipping companies.
“But that law should not be limited to only merchant vessels, it should include acquisition of boats by tour operators.”
Another factor that makes leisure by sea a bit unattractive is the terrorism which spilled over from the attacks in the U.S. on September 11, 2001.
“There is the incidence of piracy, that is terrorism executed on the high seas. This makes cruise boat services unattractive in most African nations with security problems,” said Cornelius of Hexagon Security Services.
800 mega yachts worldwide
There are about 800 mega yachts worldwide devoted to leisure services, about 54 per cent of them owned in the United States.
Where are NTDC, NIWA?
Telephone calls to the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) for comment were not answered.
The Nigerian Waterways Authority (NIWA), the federal agency that harnesses inland water resources for transportation, does not seem to have any structured template for improving sea travel, not to talk of tourism.
Telephone calls to its headquarters in Lokoja were not answered and emails not replied.