Nigerians shuns China, choose Turkey for goods import

• Air travel declines by 20% as NANTA holds mini Durbar

The breakout of coronavirus disease has led to a change in travel pattern of Nigerians, who have jettisoned China temporarily for Turkey to import their goods, according to President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents (NANTA), Mr. Bankole Bernard.

Bernard, who spoke to Woleshadarenews at the weekend on preparation of the body to hold its 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Kano later this month, disclosed that the spread of COVID-19 had led to air travel decline between 15 per cent and 20 per cent load factor in the country compared to other parts of the world where travel decline had risen to over 45 per cent.

The effects could wipe out up to $113 billion in worldwide revenue this year, a trade group said, reflecting a new blow to the industry.

Jumbo jets are flying almost empty and arriving at deserted airports.  With the continued to spread around the globe, the aviation industry is being jolted.

Airline stocks dropped sharply on Thursday as investors reckoned with the prospect of canceled flights, lost sales and substantial reductions in service for months to come.

Several carriers including United Airlines, JetBlue and Lufthansa — announced new route closings in recent days.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the coronavirus could wipe out between $63 billion and $113 billion in worldwide airline revenues this year.

Bernard noted that Nigeria’s travel is very resilient; stressing that he was yet to hear any airlines that have been coming to Nigeria cancels any of their flight or stop flying on that route.

His words: “Yes, there has been a decline in air travel; no doubt about it because the Nigerian travel industry continues to grow. Just like when Trump announced that Nigerians could not come to the US, we were hoping that Nigerians would stop. Rather, we noticed that Nigerians engaged in other destinations.

“We are people that got nine lives. What we have seen now because all routes to China which is a major route for Nigerians because we are import dependent economy. We have seen people change their movement. Rather than go to China, they decided going to Turkey to go and bring in their goods from Turkey. So, Nigerians will always find a way.

“Yes, it may not grow, yes, there will be a decline but I am yet to hear any airlines that have been coming to Nigeria cancel any of their flight or stop flying on that route. As a matter of fact, I can say this to you that if Nigeria had an open skies approach, some of those international carriers will deploy two or more flights to the route,” he added.

The NANTA chief hinted that many airlines in Europe and particularly in China have had their planes parked because of poor load factor that had hit many carriers.

According to him, “some of them just have their aircraft parked; sitting down in their various hubs but none of the routes that has to do with Nigeria bound has been cancelled. That shows you, yes, there would be a decline but we are still in business because it is a market that has been growing consistently.”

He explained that the only time there was serious decline in air travel in Nigeria was when various international airlines had serious foreign exchange issues.

He noted that the issue was quickly resolved as Nigeria helped the carriers to repatriate $600 million of their funds trapped in the country.

At that time, Nigeria was put in the same category as Venezuela, Sudan, Egypt, Angola and others that held on to airlines’ funds.

Speaking on the forthcoming AGM, Bernard stated that a mini durbar would be held in Kano during the summit scheduled from March 25 to 28.

The durbar, according to him, is to be held to showcase the rich tourism endowment Kano is known for and also reassure tourists of the normalcy in many parts of the North like Kano.

Wole Shadare