WORLD TOURISM DAY: THE GUARDIAN’S SPECIAL FOCUS ON TEN (10) ICONIC DRIVERS OF NIGERIA’S TOURISM SECTOR WITH EXCELLENT SERVICE DELIVERY
Nigeria is a location of interest for global tourism due to its endowed geographical landscape, which includes coastal beaches, mountains, historical monuments, wildlife, UNESCO-approved heritage centers, and diverse culture. A number of organizations in the travel and hospitality industries have continued to harness the richness of Nigeria’s cultural heritage and diversity in putting Nigeria on the global map.
Meanwhile, in spite of the security challenges that have cast a negative light on the country, a slew of businesses in the hospitality and travel industries have continued to break new ground in reviving the tourism sector in the aftermath of the pandemic. These are the leaders and drivers of Nigeria’s economic growth, and their activities have not gone unnoticed. The hospitality industry needs to develop its people for maximum productivity, experts say.
In this special edition, The Guardian showcases three value-adding and iconic hospitality brands in Nigeria: Travelwings, Swiss International The Vistana and Amber Hospitality & Residence.
AMBER HOSPITALITY: International Brand, Supporting Nigeria’s Hospitality Industry, With Excellent Services
Willie Kazhila, Managing Director, Amber Hospitality; Tawio Asana, General Manager, Amber Residence; and Prudence Onyeka, Sales and Marketing Manager, Amber Residence; spoke on the business of hospitality, the Amber brand and how the sector can be improved.
Can you tell us more about Amber Hospitality?
I will speak of Amber Hospitality because there is a distinct difference between Amber Hospitality and Amber Residence; Amber Hospitality is the parent of Amber Residence. In Amber Hospitality, our core business is to develop hotels and manage hotels on behalf of owners; we are a hospitality management company while Amber Residence is the property.
What makes Amber brand unique amongst others?
The amber residents came out of the umbrella of African Sun in 2012, which came with international standards; they started by training individuals because at that time, there weren’t individuals who studied hotel management in Nigeria. When they came to Nigeria they brought the international brand and standard. At that time, it was called, African Sun Amber Residence.
Our unique selling point here is the experience and service we offer. For the past 10 years, we still have had the same number of referrals despite our location because 25% are corporate clients from different organisations across the globe. From the reception to the environment and facility, we show our guests that we are pleased to serve them and go the extra mile. We also try to fix technical issues in a short period of time.
At Amber, we recognize that our biggest resource is the people, so we invest in training the people. Our staff retention rate is quite high, we retain our staff and so don’t have issues. Our biggest investment is in people because when you invest in the staff, they will add value and the customer is going to be happy.
How profitable is the hospitality business and what is your message to potential investors?
The hospitality business is intensive and requires a lot of capital to run it. Now, this is why we exist as a management company, because of our proven record, control measures and training, without the business will be unprofitable. Although a lot of money goes into it, it has to do with margins. What margins are you expected to bring out, and how much utilization of resources and maintenance is put into it? Therefore, we always try to foster that kind of culture to ensure that our proven record of margin management, and controlling cost, keeps us profitable. It is profitable only if proper methods are applied in doing the business. We also have staff that have over 20 years of experience in the industry and that counts.
As a key player, what are the issues you consider critical to the growth of the industry in Nigeria?The issue is the workforce, especially in getting skilled personnel. In Nigeria, it is very difficult to see people who are trained in hospitality unlike how we have it outside Nigeria, like in the UK and South Africa where they went to a real school and had practical classes and internships in hotels for a year or two at a particular level. Also, there is the cost of maintenance. The hospitality industry is a long-term investment but people are impatient, and in a hurry to get the money they invested. The cost of maintenance, people’s factors, government laws, taxes and policy, are frustrating in Nigeria. In Lagos state, every unit wants to come to the hotel to collect levies and all, even during COVID-19. The government policies on hospitality are very hard. Now they want to start collecting parking fees. So, people, cost of maintenance, government laws, and taxes, are the issues.
How do you think these can be resolved?
Government should look into the area of tourism by building training schools for hospitality staff. Government can invest and pay, then have an agreement with the hotels to offer graduate trainee opportunities to students. When people come here, we have to start building them because they are not exposed to the practicals. In terms of maintenance, hotels should create an account for the refurbishment of their property from the beginning so that if maintenance issues come up, they can easily sort the bill.
International brands that come into Nigeria and remain successful do so because of their method. The challenge small brands face is that they don’t have professional advice on service. Technical services agreements are agreements that are made in the growing stage of the hotel, to assess the provisions of service that people will assume in the property. If the design is wrong, it may impact on the service and create problems.
Secondly, a lot of cheap software is in the market, because owners want to save money, they venture into cheap software which is not the best in terms of controls. I urge all owners to invest in the proper software, to make sure they are controlled within their business. Another has to do with owner’s interference, a lot of businesses are not controlled by the board of directors, but by family. Thus, if a board of directors is appointed to control what happens in the hotel, there will be a chain of command.
The processes within the property also affect. For instance, if one takes money from the hotel without an account, it won’t be traced, but if all finances go to the bank, there would be accountability. The primary issue is the technical services, experienced people like us need to come in, review the drawing first, the measurements, to make sure the usability and locations are in place. These are some of the solutions that may help to solve the problems in Nigeria.
TRAVELWINGS: Reshaping the African Travel Landscape, Through Innovation
Africa’s tourism industry, just like any other, incurred huge losses during the pandemic. But from 2022 things started picking up. According to the Cape Town Tourism Authority, the city welcomed 74% more international tourists in April 2022 as compared to April 2019, well before the pandemic even started. Moreover, as of January 2022, the UN World Tourism Barometer exhibited a 51% year-over-year rise in international tourist arrivals to Africa. In addition, post-pandemic, more and more Africans prefer travelling between countries on the continent instead of travelling overseas.
Therefore, with travel and tourism on the rise again in Africa, OTAs are gearing up to meet travellers’ demands and efficiently bridge the consumer and seller gap. However, post-pandemic, the travel industry has changed drastically. Consumers now need online travel players who can adapt to changing times and leverage emerging technologies to create personalized moments. That’s where we come in!
Founded in 2015 by Mr Albert Fernando, Travelwings is a Dubai-based organisation with an impressive history of creating unique travel experiences. With over 25 years of experience in the travel and hospitality industry, Travelwings is one of the leading tourism brands present online. Headquartered in Dubai, the company has forged a strong reputation in the travel industry and is constantly evolving to keep up with changing times and consumer demands. 2021 was a year of immense learning and transformation for Travelwings as the pandemic affected every single aspect of the travel industry.
With an aim to revolutionize the travel landscape in Nigeria, Africa, Travelwings diversified its core businesses beyond airlines, apartments, hotels and vacation rentals, to tours, activities, packages, and more. This allowed us to include ingenious service offerings such as innovative categories, customised packages, memorable travel experiences, and more.
With a professional approach, seasoned team, well-knit network, and excellent supplier relationships, Travelwings used its expertise to personalize travel while catering to the unique needs of customers. Having a clear vision and understanding of the target audience allowed us to curate unique experiences for our customers.
According to the emerging 2022 travel trends, experiential travel and inter-state travel is booming in Africa. Since Millennials and Gen-Z are leading the travel scene in Nigeria, these demographics expect unique travel experiences, such as a staycation in a luxury treehouse, going for a game drive in the middle of the night, going on adventurous sunrise treks, etc. To cater to the changing travel landscape, Travelwings introduced a full spectrum of innovative offerings, including unique travel experiences.
Focused on innovation and improvement, we bring the most inventive travel offerings our customers can ask for. Globally connected, flexible, and a little unconventional, at Travelwings, we offer the best possible travel experience curated by industry experts who are also passionate travellers.
Driven by the vision to take customers on a journey without boundaries or limitations, Travelwings aspires to be the world’s most recognized and trusted e-com tourism company across the globe. Ever attentive to consumer demands, our success lies in flexibility, a customer-centric approach, and the ability to adapt.
With tourism on the rise again, Travelwings aspires to reshape the travel industry in Nigeria. In his words, Albert Fernando, CEO/Co-founder, Travelwings “Nigeria’s tourism performance and statistics have been on the rise recently, despite all odds. Based on the data of current forecasts and global international tourism, the Nigerian travel industry has shown enormous potential. At Travelwings, we aim to realize this potential by creating a seamless user experience equipped with world-class technology. We strive to offer the best travel experience to the people of Nigeria.”
He also sheds light on Travelwings’ venture in the Nigerian market. “It is an exciting time for Travelwings! Since our inception, we have tried to provide the highest value to our customers. We aim to bring the same value proposition to our Nigerian clients and enable them with the power of a world-class distribution platform that makes travelling fun and intuitive.”
SWISS INTERNATIONAL & VISTANA: Providing Superb Comfort, Value-Adding, World-class Unparalleled Service
Swiss International The Vistana is an upscale brand, featuring high standards of quality, superb comfort, and unparalleled service levels. The hotel is located in the beautiful lush green vegetation of the international community of Victoria Garden City, Lekki, Lagos. Ideal for both business and leisure travellers being accessible to major business hubs, offices, and attractions, Swiss International and Vistana has 54 rooms and suites – a 10-minute drive to the city centre and a 45-minute drive from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.
Swiss International The Vistana’s impact in the Nigeria’s tourism sector
Tourism and hospitality are the same both have tremendous economic benefits. Where tourism is robust it creates enabling environment for businesses to thrive. The tourism Sector is an enabler sector that compliments other sectors. The opposite of a hospitable and accommodating environment is a hostile and insecure one. Without mixing words, Swiss International the Vistana has provided services for people and individuals who are away from home, regardless of whether it is for long or short periods. It positively exposes the economy’s rich cultural heritage and diversity.
Major obstacles challenges to operations
As much as we all know that running a business in Nigeria is not an easy task. There are set back which ultimately serve as spring balls. However, I chose to see great opportunities amidst the challenges. In this industry, there are several challenges we face all the time, from power to insecurity, to supply chain, logistics, talents to funding, and more recently to forex-related issues, which skyrocketed our OPEX. Nevertheless, I am happy to report that we are navigating these challenges and hoping to have a more improved economy.
Assessment of Nigeria’s Tourism Sector post-COVID pandemic
The hospitality industry was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the loss of revenue, downsizing, job loss, ultimate shutdown and numerous changes in hotel operations and services. The impact of the pandemic on the hospitality industry was grieve. Starting from the restriction of movement flight cancellation and ban both local and international tourists which affect hotel revenue, expansions and contraction and contribution to national GDP.
Consequently, the tourism sector is bouncing back through a strategic approach to improved service delivery to accommodate the health and safety protocols and this has revamped the industry into recovery and profitability.
Fastest approaches to grow Nigeria’s Hospitality Industry
To further improve the national GDP, the government needs to urgently address the issues of insecurity and economic condition of the populace, lower operating costs; power supply, and infrastructural deficit, amongst others.
Swiss International The Vistana’s five-year projection
Swiss International The Vistana in the next 5 years has the vision to be top five hotels in Nigeria. In all measurement indices, by providing the signature experience.
