National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies, NANTA, has frowned against cross border trading, saying it is a sharp practice that would not be allowed to flourish.
Cross border trading is a situation whereby oversea travel agents trade unregulated in a country’s travel trade market.
President of NANTA, Mr Yinka Afolami, said five offshore travel agents had been charged for cross border trading, adding that the Federal Government also plans to charge them with money laundering.
Afolami spoke at the organisation’s AGM themed: ‘Collective Prosperity Through Market Protection,’ held in Lagos.
He said: “Government has asked us to strategically stop the trade crime. Our members should stop engaging them. We must self-regulate. We must have a robust constitution.”
Afolami, who warned against cross border trading, said it happens when a foreign registered travel agent sells tickets from Nigeria and funds from the transaction are domiciled in another country.
He said: “Another form of cross border trade is when local travel agencies in Nigeria connive with foreign agents to engage in the unlawful act.”
He lamented that more than 40 per cent of the travel market was lost, saying it threatens employment and growth of the sector.
Afolami said: “Cross border sales is a sin and disrespectful to our economy. Government has asked us to present the names of the culprits. We have five names that have been mentioned. The country is investigating them for money laundering. We will stop it. We should also stop buying from them.”
He said tickets sold by cross border traders were often cheaper, adding that NANTA was investigating how agents from other countries got cheap tickets for the Nigerian market.
On the organisation’s achievements, Folami said NANTA has shown conduct, respect and knowledge and has ensured that its point of sale does not shift, just as it distributes wealth and self-regulates.
He said: “We made airlines confirm to us that they are principals to us and so the airlines should not be seen to be in competition with us. The airlines are very responsive to us. What we have done in the last six years is that we have set up committees and a key committee is the constitution review committee. The training committee is also doing very well. We are relaunching the identity cards and website today. We are also launching our NANTA mobile app.”
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