JTB Partners Nigerians Travel Too to Woo Nigerian Tourists

Vanessa Obioha

The Hashemite Kingdom, through the Jordan Travel Board (JTB), has entered into a partnership with tour operator, Nigerians Travel Too (NTT), to embark on a tri-state roadshow in Lagos, Kano, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Positioned to attract prospective travellers to the tourist destination through a series of workshops, meetings and presentations in the respective locations, the ongoing programme comes to a halt on November 8, 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic stifled progress in global tourism, with many popular destinations closed to tourists or operated in a limited capacity for close to a year. With recent developments that include the provision of vaccines, tourism stakeholders are keen on exploring opportunities to get more people to travel once again.

Jordan, widely regarded as the tourism mecca of the Middle East before the COVID-19 pandemic, attracted over 5.3 million international visitors per year.

Nigerians have undertaken limited excursions to Jordan over the years, with the major challenges being visa and immigration procedures.

With this in mind, Elizabeth Agboola, CEO and Founder of NTT, has expressed great delight in the partnership with the JTB.

“The Destination Jordan Roadshow will provide tremendous opportunities for those of us in the travel and tourism business to become more sensitised to what Jordan has to offer. We are happy that the JTB, Royal Jordanian Airlines and other Jordanian entities have formally adopted Nigeria as a new target market for tourism promotion and will be taking steps to expedite visa processing and other immigration procedures,” Agboola noted.

At a cocktail party to mark the partnership, representatives from JTB, Head of Medical and Wellness Tourism Unit, Dr Justin Abu Anza; Faith Tourism Specialist, Amer Al Twal; and Islamic Tourism Consultant, Ahmad Al Khattab, delivered an elaborate presentation on the various unique tourist attractions such as historical sites, cultures and religions that set Jordan apart from other tourist destinations.

“Jordan is a tourist destination which is open to Nigerians. We are looking to expand into this market as mentioned before. It has been on our radar for a couple of years now. We have not had the chance to work with a well-established tour operator like NTT in Nigeria to kind of facilitate a proper, diverse and dynamic itinerary for Nigerians to come to Jordan. So, that is our goal. We are trying to show the diversity of Jordan as a destination. As a destination, it is something which is unique and different to other destinations within the region,” said Amer Al Twal.

With plans to commence weekly direct flights with Royal Jordanian Air to Amman Jordan from Lagos and Kano respectively, it is projected that the new travel facility will launch in December 2021