- Delta to increase capacity, begins NY-Lagos route Dec
- NAMA' s move to complete Surface Movement Radar for Lagos, Abuja airports 'll curb airside, ground incidents, others
- African airlines demand up by 10.1% in Aug
- Four must-visit places for Nigerians in Miami via Delta’s seamless connections
- Canada to reduce study permits for Nigerians, others
90% estimated 6, 000 travel agencies not registered, says NANTA
- NCAA raises alarm over fraudulent ticketing practices
President, National Association of Nigeria Travel Agents (NANTA), Mr. Bernard Bankole lamented that about 90 per cent of the estimated 6, 000 travel agencies in the country are not registered with NANTA.
He stated that that the economic situation in the country had further compounded the situation, pointing out that when people lose their jobs, the first thing they do is to quickly go into travel business, creating the impression that travel agency business is for everybody.
This is coming as the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) warned intending travellers to desist from engaging the services of unregistered travel agents.
A statement from the aviation regulatory body stated that it had received increase in the report of fraudulent ticketing practices by people masquerading as travel agents.
Spokesman for NCAA, Sam Adurogboye disclosed that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) 2015, Part 18.9.1 (111), prohibits the undertaking of the business of travel agency by any person in Nigeria, without a Certificate of Registration or Licence issued by the Authority, upon fulfilment of certain requirements, including, that an applicant submits evidence of membership of National Association of Nigeria Travel Agents (NANTA).
In addition, Adurogboye noted that Section 30 (4) of the Civil Aviation Act 2006, empowers the NCAA to regulate, supervise and monitor the activities of travel agents in Nigeria.
Consequent upon these reports of sharp practices by unregistered travel agencies, he stated that the authority had therefore directed all duly registered travel agencies to display their certificates of registration or licences in all their outlets.
There are 150 of travel agencies on the register of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
However, there are guidelines for registration with the authority. The applicants are requested to fulfil both the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and NCAA requirements to be registered.
The NCAA therefore reiterated that prospective passengers should do business only with travel agencies registered with the regulatory authority.
Just recently, NANTA took a bold step towards sanitising the travel and tours industry by initiating a project tagged: “Travel Practitioners Identification Project”, aimed at checking the activities of fraudulent illegal travel and tour operators in the country.
Bankole said this new initiative of the association would ensure that every travel and tour operator, whether owner or employee of travel agency must have identity card with Unique Identification Number (UIN).
He also said a database of travel agencies and their personnel would be created to facilitate identification of genuine members.
According to the NANTA President, this project became necessary following a series of negative happenings and reports about the fraudulent activities of some travel agencies, adding that this would assist government agencies, airlines and other stakeholders to identify genuine travel agencies operating in the country and prevent unsuspecting air travelling public from being swindled.
He cited the case of a lady travel agent who defrauded unsuspecting Nigerian travellers of more than N56 million, stressing that this has compelled passengers to now go straight to airlines to purchase their tickets as they cannot differentiate between the real and fake travel agencies.
Google+
