Excessive pricing threat to ‘Detty December’s viability, says Onitilo

High ticket price driven by demand and supply-Bernard

The Managing Director of Travelden (a subsidiary of Finchglow Holdings Ltd.), Gbenga Onitilo, has highlighted a significant threat to the long-term viability of the highly popular Detty December tourism season in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos.

His concern centres on excessive pricing and price gouging across the hospitality and entertainment sectors, just as his warning, primarily directed at the tourism and hospitality sectors, could threaten the entire tourism ecosystem and deprive Lagos and a few states of the gains of Detty December.

Fielding questions from journalists on Thursday in Lagos, argued that the excessive pricing is a short-sighted strategy that threatens the future sustainability of Detty December.

The season, which draws large numbers of diaspora Nigerians and international tourists, he noted risks pricing itself out of the market.

Onitilo lamented that many operators were exploiting visitors, especially those earning foreign currency, by charging exorbitant rates that are sometimes three to six times the regular seasonal adjustments.

He suggested that while the high influx of diaspora visitors in 2024 significantly boosted the local economy, the country did not adequately plan for this volume, creating a vacuum that led to widespread overpricing.

He said, “The overpricing is prevalent across hand short-let apartments, hiking their rates far beyond reasonable seasonal adjustments. Show promoters setting concert ticket and VIP table fees beyond accessible limits”.

He noted that the absence of government regulation and structured pricing allows these harmful practices to persist.

Onitilo’s specific concern about exploitation is compounded by the harsh national economic realities that inflate the underlying costs for service providers.

Primary concert tickets for Afrobeats festivals have been widely criticised for costing more than N5 million in some instances for a single standing ticket, effectively excluding the majority of the local fanbase.

He further stated that Detty December is caught between two forces: the macroeconomic crisis, which raises operational costs (justifying some price increases), and opportunistic overpricing of services, which Onitilo argues is the greater threat to the season’s longevity.

In a related development, the Group Managing Director of Finchglow Holdings, Mr Bankole Bernard, has weighed in on the high cost of domestic air tickets.

Speaking to journalists in his office on Thursday, he stated that high ticket prices are, at the basic commercial level, a result of supply and demand.

He, however, blamed government policies, which he attributed to the factors that deliberately and artificially create the imbalance.

His argument is not a simple endorsement of the market forces, but a critique of the environment that allows airlines to charge exorbitant fares and still find customers.

Bernard acknowledged that airlines, both domestic and international, are driven by two commercial factors in their pricing: volume and yield.

Wole Shadare