Türkiye bemoans Nigerian ‘tourists’ absconding in Istanbul
Nigerian travel trade professionals and their counterparts in Istanbul, Türkiye, have mutually bemoaned the visa regimes in both countries, seeking waivers and ease of travel protocols for a strong tie in trade and tourism.
The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) in its first historic collaboration meeting yesterday in Istanbul with the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) appealed for the intervention of its Turkish sister agency.
Specifically, the clarion call was to the Turkish government to relax the strict visa regime for Nigerian travellers, particularly those who are in possession of UK, Schengen Countries, Canada and U.S. visas to allow them access a visa-on-arrival without stress or the electronic visa.
In their response, the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) also tabled before NANTA the same constraints experienced by Turkish investors and tourists wishing to visit Nigeria, noting that the very stringent Nigerian visa ecosystem has negatively impacted the desire of Turkish people to visit Nigeria.
The Vice President of TURSAB, Mr Davut Gunaydin, expressed the same sentiments but wishes to see more Nigerians visit Türkiye, though worried by the very low visitor traffic from Nigeria to Türkiye, a country which, yearly, welcomes close to about thirty-six million visitors from all over the world.
He said: “We have about six thousand visitors from Spain, about the same number of visitors from Italy, but we are worried about the near-zero tourism traffic from Nigeria, with over 200 million population and noted all over the world for being 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,” Gunaydin said.
Throwing more light on the poor visa approvals for Nigerians wishing to visit Turkey, Gunaydin disclosed that some Nigerians disappeared after the expiration of their visa and requested that NANTA should profile and recommend Nigerian visitors wishing to visit Turkiye to stem the tide of such Nigerian visa seekers from absconding once inside Turkey as such incidents in the past sadly contributed to the present challenge in assessing visas to Turkey by Nigerians.
The two 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 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.
Folami said: “We are pleased to be here and greatly appreciate your hospitality to my team. This meeting is hugely successful and impactful, and 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.”
