• The Membership Club
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Store
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
      • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects & Partnerships
    • AUN-PT Data Hub
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • #PandoraPapers
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
      • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects & Partnerships
    • AUN-PT Data Hub
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • #PandoraPapers
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
Dupe Olusola, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp Hotels Plc

Dupe Olusola, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp Hotels Plc

Will tourism advance Africa’s socio-economic narrative?

How AFTCA and a pandemic world pose new opportunities for hospitality and tourism on the continent.

byDupe Olusola
October 8, 2021
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0

For the past decade, the African continent has shown a remarkable commitment to building a repository of investment opportunities across business sectors.

Tourism, for instance, has witnessed a spike in Cape Verde, sustaining its economy on hospitality efforts. Tourism contributes to 24 per cent of GDP in Mauritius. In 2019, Ghana launched a viral campaign, The Year of Return, attracting globetrotters and foreigners seeking to reconnect with their roots. The Year of Return popularised Ghana as a tourist destination with Trans-Atlantic trade appeal, following a 5.5 per cent contribution from the tourism industry to the nation’s GDP in 2018.

Before the pandemic, a hospitality report showed that Africa was the second-fastest growing tourism region globally, with a growth rate of 5.6 per cent after the Asia Pacific, against a 3.9 per cent global average growth rate. Now, with the number of travels per year on a decline as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, conversations abound on whether domestic tourism numbers will begin to look up and how the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AFTCA) will accelerate progress for regional tourism.

The AFTCA and Integrating local value chains

With a potential market size of over 1.2 billion people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.5 trillion across all 55 member states of the African Union, much is to be expected from AFTCA, particularly in integrating African countries to drive up demand and supply for goods and services, as well as facilitate intra-continent migration.

The movement of people and goods will enable trade and create more valuable local opportunities. In Nigeria, family-owned investment company, Heirs Holdings, is further integrating its state of play to leverage these unfolding opportunities across Africa. An example of such is its strategic investment in the hospitality landscape – a sector dominated by hotels but is witnessing the emergence of new players and product offerings set to diversify and expand the sector. Digitally savvy consumers have fuelled the culture of lifestyle and hospitality, driving the adoption of experiential packages in the hospitality industry. This cultural shift enhances competition and opens opportunities for new entrants into the hospitality market. One such example is Aura, a new digital platform redefining hospitality in Nigeria, enabling people to book accommodation, restaurants, and experiences from their mobile devices. Launched by the hospitality investment arm of Heirs Holdings and one of Africa’s leading hospitality brands, Transcorp Hotels Plc –, it is the company’s pathway to boosting inter-regional participation in the tourism and hospitality sector.

The reduced dependency on international tourism is an opportunity to explore grassroots recreational outlets. Aura’s bold and targeted approach is to leverage the existence of homes, create traction for underrepresented small businesses, and showcase national heritage, through curated lifestyle and tourist experiences. Its ambition is to engage thousands of partners – from homeowners, hoteliers, restaurateurs, and experience providers to earn income by listing their properties or services on the platform, increasing economic growth and development while improving lives. With Aura, more local businesses will be better positioned to insert themselves in value chains, leading to increased income sustainability.

Addressing access in Regional Tourism

According to the World Tourism Rankings of 2019, there were 69.9 million international tourist arrivals to Africa. This statistic, according to the World Tourism Rankings of 2019, positions Africa as a much-desired destination for non-African travels. However, much is still unsaid about access to tourist destinations in Africa for Africans.

Inter-regional connectivity in Africa remains a challenge. A significant number of the African population still find it difficult to acquire visas. Enthusiastic tourists in Africa are exempted from the diverse experiences in neighbouring countries. Countries are unable to promote their local travel destinations and tourist offerings to attract more regional travellers.

Atiku-Okowa AD

One solution for this predicament will depend on policy adjustments within which Africans can begin to move toward regional integration. Africa is long overdue a flight hub in West Africa – particularly to address the challenge of ease and accessibility while travelling regionally. At present, TAP Air Portugal connects African travellers to Lisbon, São Tomé and Príncipe and Cape Verde, making the case for why more airlines need to expand their global route network operations in Africa. Alternatively, travellers sometimes must fly to Europe to connect to another country in Africa, with the same fate applicable to regional logistics, all of which have implications on trade activities.

Policy adjustments can also happen at the national level, the case of such being in Ghana, when, for the Year of Return campaign, it waived some visa requirements and passed amendments to a 2002 law that permits people of African origin to apply for a right to stay indefinitely in Ghana.

Another solution to boosting regional tourism is Intra-African trade: whereby regional organisations can facilitate cross-country tourist exhibitions and engage Africans on a regional level on what their neighbouring states have to offer. Such a move would weave a brighter future for a region that has repeatedly noted the urgent need to address its continent-wide connectivity gap.

Industry diversification: A new reality for hospitality players

Having suffered a loss of over $50 billion in revenue in the wake of a changing society affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism industry players face a new reality: how to recoup from these unprecedented losses, create more employment opportunities, and celebrate the dynamism on the continent.

NAHCON State AD NAHCON Tour Operator AD NAHCON Cargo Operator AD

Kogi AD

TEXEM Advert

Addressing the deficit in international travel demand in the wake of COVID-19, Transcorp Hotels was able to identify and enable new products that meet local hospitality needs. Recently, it launched several initiatives: a drive-through cinema, laundry delivery service and food delivery all with the aim of driving long-term returns and delivering premium consumer experiences. In addition, it launched Workspace by Transcorp Hotels – a business hub for corporates designed to boost business activities in a hospitable environment.

Pathway to recovery for Africa’s tourism & hospitality play

As African economies recover, new interventions in the tourism and hospitality sector will emerge to help address the impact of the pandemic and slow-down of growth. Digital products like Aura by Transcorp will augment efforts to move Africa toward an integrated market, as the continent has one of the fastest-growing mobile phone penetration rates. Similarly, it will provide a young African population and a growing middle class with leisure opportunities.

The AFCTA agreement is expected to boost about 50 per cent intra-African trade between now and by 2030 – less than a decade. Achieving this will require a viewpoint that embraces local small and medium-sized enterprises. Indeed, the strongest outcome for the tourism industries in Africa will occur when key players diversify supply chains, establish regional value chains, and boost the growth of home-grown value-adding products. The hope is that with an enabling environment like the AFCTA, Africans can begin to embrace solutions developed to empower them socially and economically, just as regional economies spur growth and expand in capacity.

Dangote adbanner 728x90_2 (1)

Dupe Olusola is the MD/CEO, Transcorp Hotels Plc

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • WhatsApp
  • Telegram
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Print



Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate



TEXT AD: Call Willie - +2348098788999






PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

Court grants ex-AGF Adoke permission to travel abroad for medical check-up

Next Post

Buhari approves establishment of two new tertiary institutions

Dupe Olusola

Dupe Olusola

More News

APC Presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and campaign team in Akwa Ibom

Tinubu campaigns in Akwa Ibom, vows to create massive employment for Nigerians

January 30, 2023

ECOWAS Court decries poor enforcement of its decisions

January 30, 2023
EFCC Operatives

EFCC arrests hoarders of new naira notes

January 30, 2023
New Naira Notes

We have old Naira notes, what do we do with them – Nigerians in Diaspora

January 30, 2023
FILE: INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. Photo; FACBOOK/INECNIGERIA

INEC investigates viral video of extortion during PVCs collection

January 30, 2023
Debt Management Office (DMO) boss, Patience Oniha. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official Web page of DMO] Eurobonds

Nigeria’s public debt rose to N44.06trn in Q3 2022

January 30, 2023
Leave Comment

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2022 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • Digital Store
  • Home
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Gender
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • Opinion
  • PT Hausa
  • The Membership Club
  • DONATE
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Dubawa NG
  • Careers
  • Contact Us

All content is Copyrighted © 2022 The Premium Times, Nigeria