By Stanley Ugagbe
The ravaging pandemic has had adverse effects on the various sectors of the economy and the tourism sector is not an exception. In fact, facts have shown that it is one of the worst hit sectors by the lingering virus.
While scientists and doctors continue to battle for a lasting panacea to the virus which has claimed over 700,000 lives and crumbled world economies, humans are perturbed as to how far they can continue to cope in the face of the harsh reality of life imposed by the virus.
In this exclusive interview, a tourist enthusiast, Jonadab Arueya who is the Chief Executive Officer of the leading Travels and Tours Agency in Sub-Saharan Africa, Wahalanodey Limited, shared with us how the pandemic has affected the Tourism industry in Nigeria and how government and stakeholders can revitalize and reposition the industry to make it a global standard as well as positioning it to be a major contributor to the Nigerian economy.
MAY WE MEET YOU?
My name is Jonadeb Arueya. I am the CEO of Wahalanodey Limited and I am from Delta State.
HOW HAS LIFE BEEN AS A TOURIST?
Life has been so interesting as a tourist enthusiast. It has given more opportunity to read more and also explore more from the tourist world and tourist sites and also, I have gathered experiences from all my travel solo-travelers who are my clients to share more life experience from every part of their trip. It has also build up the strength, understanding and knowledge I have in the tourist industry today and also I have taken time to interact with players and friends in the industry who are also grounded and have given me an edge to really play more, act more as the business has taken me to more level that I really need to partake.
WHAT IS THE CURRENT SITUATION OF THE NIGERIAN TOURIST TODAY?
The current situation in Nigeria tourism today has not been fully tact; we are still seeing the menace in the tourist industry. The lack of ideas on how the government has fully ignored the sector and letting the act and culture of promoting the nature and conservation that would have attracted foreign minds, the good minds of foreign cash, of foreign currencies into this country has been over sealed or left behind and so the industry is struggling. We can see this already taking place in some African countries meeting with global standard but right here we are still waiting to see this strive apart from few private industries or individuals who have tried to imitate and bring to play some of the cultural arts that will really promote the Nigerian art and culture in terms of nature and conservation. Apart from that little one the government is yet to play a real fundamental part and then since we are moving away from the dependency of oil to now go into the derivation of other sector to bring in more resources for the economy to grow, Nigeria needs to look greatly into the tourism sector and this is where they have not tapped fully; we are still in that old mindset of how we overlooked the nature of what tourism can bring to this country. And so it has never been given the best attention and the fact is, investment in this sector can bring about globalization and development we desire in this country.
HOW HAS COVID-19 IMPACTED THE INDUSTRY?
The impact of covid-19 has really brought a lot of changes and has brought the industry completely down and we are seeing different phases of a new normal to how business should be done in this industry and it has actually affected the industry in terms of the growth; it has affected the industry negatively. Just like other sectors, the impact of the pandemic on the sector has not been favorable. But I think when we are fully back we should be seeing a different means of approach and most of us are now seeing how much we could do virtually in almost all the product we deal with. It has never been so, we always love seeing these things live; we always love going and experience certain things live, it gives you a greater impact when you are seeing them live, when you are part of it right there but we are now seeing that the industry could come in a different way now with the introduction of the virtual range of activities we are trying to look into and how best it can fit into the industry. So for me covid-19 has contributed immensely to the downturn of the industry. At the moment we are yet to see how we can come back and then be on ground and be able to restart the industry all over as it is.
WHAT ARE THE MEASURES BEING TAKEN TO REVITALIZE THE INDUSTRY?
The measures we need to revitalize the industry are in this fold and one of them is the government coming out in full measures holistically with the demand for the tourist industry and that needs both the ethnic and socio-cultural group merging with the private sector to promote the industry. If these are put together we could be looking at sustainability of the industry; we could be looking at driving the industry and when this is on ground and in operation we can develop and grow the industry. Because of the way we find ourselves with the new normal that the covid-19 has brought in, we have to drive the industry to what it should be as in the global standard. The government needs to set a benchmark for all practitioner to operate that will allow every practitioner to operate and that benchmark will come as a recapitalization of the industry so that the capital we need to push the industry from any sector of the travel and the tourist business could be driven because we’ve not really tapped the potential, we’ve not really tapped the wealth of this industry and so we need to put it all together with the government and the major player right now is the government because we are really suffering in this sector. And so for this sector to really drive, the government has the potential to come in and if they can set the benchmark we will work on that and I bet you the industry will make the country smile again and that’s the truth about it.
PRIOR TO COVID-19 WERE MEASURES BEING PUT IN PLACE TO MAKE THE INDUSTRY UP TO DEVELOPED COUNTRIES STANDARD?
Prior to the covid-19 there were some measures put in place to restructure the operation of travels and tour in the country. There were actually some bad image, the menace in the industry was so bad that people lacked trust, even to run the business and even to deal with the operators in the business so that called for concerns and different organizations were set up and we tried to bring in experts to really see how global standard is being obtained in terms of travels and tour. Seminars, programmes were taking place; associations were calling for more measures, bringing in more players into the industry, inviting them to be part of one or two things and bringing every sector together to partake and then see how they can be more effective and trustworthy as the business is concerned. But the government did not really come in fully; I want to give 10% to the government because they didn’t really come out to see how they can push along with it. They were leaving it to the private sector to invite them to be part of it and that’s not how it’s supposed to be and that’s not how the global industry has carried it for a long time.
HOW CAN TOURISM REPOSITION THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY?
Proper repositioning of the tourism industry in the country can bring about economic recovery and growth. Nigeria needs to look at the tourist industry as part of the GDP to grow the economy and in that aspect they will reposition the tourist industry to meet the Nigeria economy because Nigeria has so much natural resources in terms of tourism that will drive the art and culture of this country and so for that reason it has to be completely re-positioned and begin to derive the economic dividend that it will bring and this is what we want them to look at; mostly the government should begin to play part of it. Look, South Africa never started like we did but today they are the bigger players in Africa. We have all it takes to be the gold mind; to be a strong mind in the tourism industry; all we need to do is to reposition the tourist industry to meet the Nigerian economy again.
WHAT INSPIRED WAHALANODEY?
Wahalanodey was coined out from years of experience of travel business we’ve had over time. The word Wahalanodey actually was a solution provider but we need to say it In our own language, we need to leave it in the heart of every Nigerian, no matter the age you can relate to the word and so Wahalanodey was just the expression to our own terms to solution provider. It was coined from an ideology that we have as a solution provider in the industry.
HOW IS IT DIFFFERENT FROM OTHER BRAND?
The ideology of the brand was to grow Wahalanodey to a global recognition whereby we can sell our own, sell African destination to the world. That was the ideology we were driving at, correcting the impression that it is when you travel to a foreign land mostly outside Africa that you experience travel, you experience tourist attraction, you can feel that you made a reason for a trip; so we were trying to see how we can inculcate both foreign and Africa trip and also selling own destination to the world. That is just what the brand is all about so anybody that is trying to relate locally to the name ‘Wahalanodey,’ will want to know where it is coined from and if you try to search the name on Google it would pop out where the location is not even where the company is operating. We are only selling ourselves to the global world and so that was just the ideology where the brand came out from. Wahalanodey is not a different thing because people are already selling destination in Africa but we need to make it stay and so we are combining with those who have this ideology to sell Africa as destination and also sell what we have as destination to the world.
WHAT IS YOUR EXPECTATION FROM THE GOVERNMENT CONCERNING THE INDUSTRY?
There’s a lot expected from the government especially this time that the travels, tourism and hospitality has been badly hit by the covid-19 pandemic. The government is expected to stare up the industry; we would need stimulating packages because that’s only where the government can really braise up to make the industry reliable again just as it was before. This time around things like relief and bailout packages to meet the different sectors in the industry should be provided. The government needs to see how they can fully be part of it so that we can able to come back well prepared and be able to deliver and submit a well prepared financial and statutory report for growth that will meet the GDP of the economy.
