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Over inflated airfares to Nigeria

Why is the cost of travel to Nigeria so high?

The high cost of air travel to Nigeria is stopping the country from becoming a popular tourist destination that it deserves to be and therefore makes the attempt of the government who are spending money promoting the country as tourists destination, and to modify the battered image of the country, futile.

They are not attracting non-Nigerians to visit Nigeria; all they have is Nigerians going home, and few business travellers, who charge the expensive air fares to the company they work for.

It’s not because it’s a far distance to travel to Nigeria, for example like travelling from London to New York or Australia. So the excuse of the price is based on the number of the miles is untrue, because a direct flight from London to Lagos by British Airway or Virgin Atlantic which is only 6 Hours 25 Minutes, is more expensive than a flight by Air France that first stops at Paris then goes to Lagos which takes in total 9 Hours and 40 Minutes and is over £200 GBP Cheaper.

To me I think all the Airlines that have the rights to fly to Nigeria, are taking advantage of people travelling to Nigeria and they are over inflating the air fares. The few flights that travel to Nigeria are full, but not because customers have chosen to travel by the airline because of competitive prices offered, but because they have no choice but to pay the high air fares and take one of the few flights available.

Another issue that is stopping Nigeria from becoming a true Holiday destination is the accommodation options are very limited, mostly luxury expensive hotels, and hardly any budget hotels and hostels, and there is definitely no chance of a package Holiday organised by a tour operator which would attract more tourists.

Well, I think that the price of air line ticket should be a fair reflection of the actual distance travelled and not a preconceived inflated fixed price that people are forced to pay, if more airlines like budget airlines especially, had the rights to fly to Nigeria the price would drop and become more competitive and beneficial for customers, and people should have the choice of budget, mid range and expensive hotels accommodation.

The most annoying part of this is, the Nigerian Government is not doing anything about this, maybe they still believe like one of the Nigerian Government Officials said a few years ago that air travel is for rich people. The Government may also think that Nigeria isn’t a tourist destination so why encourage a range of accommodation options for travellers, what they forget is, when people spend so much to get to Nigeria, they won’t have a lot of money spare, to spend in the country and help the economy.

Who actually benefits from this high cost of travel to places like Lagos Nigeria, except the Airlines?

Or is it someone else benefiting behind the scene?

 Posted on: Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 10:34 am
 Flights to Nigeria.
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