Stringent Turkey, Nigerian visa hurts trade, tourism, say NANTA, TURSAB

In recent years, Nigerian applicants wishing to travel to Turkiye have faced tighter visa rules. The same applies to Turkish citizens wishing to visit Nigeria The tight visa restrictions have led to concerns as travel trade professionals and their counterparts in Istanbul, Türkiye, bemoaned the visa regimes by both countries.

They called for waivers and relaxation of entry regimes into Nigeria and Türkiye to speed up trade and tourism

The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) in its first historic collaboration meeting at the weekend in Istanbul with the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) appealed for the intervention of its Turkish sister body to help guide the Turkish government to relax the strict visa regime for Nigerian travellers, particularly those who have valid visas from UK, Schengen Countries, Canada and US to allow them access visa on arrival without stress or the electronic visa.

Similarly, the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) tabled before NANTA the same constraints experienced by Turkish investors and tourists wishing to visit Nigeria, noting that the very Nigerian stringent visa ecosystem have impacted negatively the desire of Turkish people to visit Nigeria.

The two influential trade groups, after extensive deliberations covering mutual trade opportunities and challenges, agreed to table the feedback to their relevant and appropriate focal authorities, promising to sign a memorandum of understanding to partner and support each other on tourism exchange visits, training and retraining, and to forge a united voice on

global travel trade matters and to ensure improved revenue yields courtesy of tourism for the two nations.

NANTA President, Mr Yinka Folami, expressed happiness at the reception and hospitality of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) leadership, and subsequently threw an open invitation to the entire leadership of the Associations of Turkish Travel Agencies to the 50th anniversary of NANTA next year, 2026

He said, “We are pleased to be here and greatly appreciate your hospitality to my team. This meeting is hugely successful and impactful. We assure you that we will reach out to our home government over the visa challenges experienced by the good people of the Republic of Türkiye”.

The Vice President, Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB), Mr. Davut Gunaydin also expressed concern about the strict visa processes for Turkish citizens wishing to visit Nigeria, stressing that he wished to see more Nigerians visit Türkiye.

He was equally worried about the low visitors traffic from Nigeria to Turkiye, a country which, yearly, welcomes close to about thirty-six million visitors from all over the world.

“We have about six thousand visitors from Spain and about the same number from Italy, but we are worried about the near-zero tourism traffic from Nigeria, which has over 200 million people and is noted all over the world as one of the nations with the most travelled people.

“We want NANTA to help us change the tide, while we too will drive similar campaigns in our country for visits to Nigeria since we share strong bonds in culture, heritage tourism, and hospitality, ” said the VP of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB).

The meeting was attended by the Turkish Airlines Sales Operations Manager in Nigeria, Mr. Hakim Cakar, representing the airline (through his Country Manager in Nigeria, Mr. Lokman Balkan), which brokered the ground-breaking meeting by the two organisations.

The collaborative meeting was witnessed by NANTA First Deputy President Mrs. Chinyere Umeasiegbu, Second Deputy President Dr Olatokunbo Dagunduro, Vice Presidents of Abuja and North respectively, Mrs. Kemabonta Ibiwari and Mohammed Chamo. Also, in attendance were Vice President Lagos Zone Mr. Yinka Olapade, Vice President, Western Zone, Mr Babatunde Adesokan, Financial Secretary, Mr. Yinka Ladipo, Publicity Secretary, Mrs. Lola Adewole, National Internal Auditor, Johnson Ugochukwu and Chief Administrative Officer, Mr. Stanley Diagi.

The Eighteen thousand strong Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, led by the Vice President, Mr Davut Gunaydin, are Orhan Sancar, Head of Incoming Tourism Expert Committee, Kemal Ertem, Head, Outgoing Tourism Expert Committee, Ceylan Uraz Yigiterhan, Director, Expert Committee and Corporate Events, and Yildirim Tas, Executive Board Member.

Wole Shadare