The National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) says it recorded a 46.9 per cent loss in sales in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Susan Akporaiye, the National President of the association, at a media briefing on Tuesday in Lagos, said the 2020 sales statistics were in comparison with that of 2019.

According to her, sales picked-up between January to April 2020, after which the Nigerian government declared a period of lockdown.

“We made total sales of $57.79m in January 2019 as against $70.03m same month in 2020, and $51.52m was realised in February 2019 and $59.16m, in February 2020.

“Also, we realised $80.55m in March 2019 and $23.26m in March 2020 while $92.50m was made in April 2019 as against $1.38m in 2020.

“So, in 2019, we realised $282.36m, and in 2020, we made, $151m bringing the percentage of our losses to 46.9 per cent. The pandemic’s impact on the Nigerian travel trade sector was brutish, unexpected, and fearful; the pandemic challenged the legacy of the united NANTA,” she said.

Mrs. Akporaiye expressed optimism that the association would recover soon due to the government and the International Air Transport Association’s support.

She commended IATA’s efforts to support the association in ensuring its members’ recovery from the losses of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“IATA has been very lenient with travel agents when we had issues paying our annual obligation, which was as a result of bank default. They also opened up communication channels for counselling our members. We appreciate all these.

“The federal government through the Ministry of Aviation and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) intervened to give us hope and stabilised certain measures of policy matters which brought sanity to the rash of COVID-19 protocols, targeted at Nigerian passengers,” she added.

(NAN)