National tourism transportation summit begins November 15

Activities are in top gear for the hosting of the fast-approaching 4th National Tourism Transportation Summit slated for 15th to 16th of November, 2021 at the International Conference Centre Abuja.

The National Transportation Tourism Summit and Expo is instituted and convened by the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Tourism, the Federal Ministry of Transportation as well as the Federal Ministry of Aviation as an annual event that focuses attention on the inter-play and connectivity between tourism and transportation.

It would also x-ray how comprehensibly the various stakeholders and key players in the two industries at both public and private sector levels have fared in exploring the enormous opportunities and benefits inherent in synergizing them.

The theme of the expo, “ TOURISM TRANSPORTATION CONNECTIVITY: Leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Regime for Economic Sustainability is coming at a period the continent is coming together to promote free trade within the continent that is capable of enhancing air transport and tourism not only in Nigeria but Africa as a whole.

This is derived from the AfCFTA trade agreement which is a common market to grow trade in ‘made-in-Africa’ goods and services by reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade among African countries.

Former Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nnamdi Udoh disclosed that the African Union is gradually making great strides towards achieving and making sense of the wisdom behind this famous adage in its efforts to liberate Africa from colonial demarcations.

He said that apart from the physical barriers put in place by Africa’s colonizers, there are other intangible barriers, which have been existing and still continue to be of great hindrance to Africa’s emergence if not brought down.

According to him, “The African Union’s recent actions of putting into place an African Continental Free Trade Area – ACFTA and the Single African Air Transport Market – SAATM are giant steps towards recognizing the over 1.3 billion inhabitants in the continent as one people, one market, one geographical space, and one nation, provided Africans see and reason into this together”.

According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Continental Free Trade Area goes beyond free trade in a broader sphere to establish free movement and investments across Africa. In March 2018, at the historic meeting of the African Union in Kigali, Rwanda, member states agreed to create an African Continental Free Trade Area. Subsequently, 52 of 54 African Union member states signed up to the agreement, representing a remarkable degree of consensus across the continent.

Following an opinion poll survey carried out in November 2018 by the Rockefeller Foundation, over 2000 citizens across the continent confirmed that an impressive 77% of Africans believe that the Continental Free Trade Area Agreement represented an important step forward. But what does this agreement exactly mean in practice and how will it affect us, especially with regards to the aviation sector in Africa?

To make this happen, the physical movement of people and goods can’t be ignored. In fact, it is the principal catalyst that will act as evidence of the existence of a free trade zone.

Therefore, aviation practitioners and the sector as a whole cannot be ignored. Serious considerations have to be given and put in place by governments, civil society, and regional institutions to assist and resolve all aspects hindering the aviation sector to thrive for full and better implementation of ACFTA and SAATM.

Africa is a big continent. You could fit the US, China, and Europe into the continent and still have space to spare. But in economic terms, individual countries are still very small. Take Ghana and Rwanda for instance, these are some of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

But in terms of size, they’re ranked 82nd and 139th respectively, out of 211 economies in the world following the IMF rankings in 2019. This matters because small economies often struggle to attract the most needed investments.

Collectively, the story is very different. The African continent all 54 economies together have a collective GDP of $2.5 trillion USD that making it the 8th largest economy in the world, just behind India. With 1.3 billion potential customers, it makes the continent much more attractive to investment, both from within and from outside the continent. This will encourage business people to make the required investments necessary to sustain economic growth and create the job opportunities the continent badly needs.

Perhaps, most significantly, Nigeria has signed the AfCFTA pact. Securing the participation of Africa’s largest and most populous economy marked a significant achievement.

Nigeria’s signature followed a lengthy domestic consultation with both trade unions and private businesses. Nigeria accounts for 17 percent of Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), ranking just ahead of South Africa and with a domestic nearing 200 million people-as much as Ethiopia and Egypt combined. Its involvement is set to significantly bolster the AfCFTA’s strength and size.

Air Transport specialist and a former Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Richard Aisuebeogun said with AfCFTA, It becomes easier for airlines to grow in Africa just like what is obtained in the entire continent of Europe.

His words: “There is virtually no part of Europe that you cannot fly into from one particular spot because you have airlines crisscrossing the entire continent of Europe. We know that is not the case in Africa. I don’t want to go deep into that. We have talked about it for over 30 years. The challenge of flying across Africa is a major challenge. If we find it as a major challenge to fly across Africa or within Africa via intra-Africa transport system, then, you can imagine how it is going to limit the economic development of the region.

“I keep saying that in all the interviews I have granted and in my presentations in the last two years. We need to have citizens travel cards that enable us to go to South Africa, Banjul, Nairobi, Cairo without any limitations for legitimate reasons to do business that will engender economic growth of Africa and its citizens, business that will create wealth, business that will reduce poverty, business that will reduce unemployment and that is what Africa Continental Free Trade would do and I keep saying it that this can only be successful when we have SAATM to complement, he added.

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