How Tourism, Yuletide Celebration Attracted Multimillion Dollars into Nigerian Economy

Chinedu Eze

There is clear evidence that domestic tourism is growing in Nigeria, but such growth reached its peak in December 2024, when it attracted international tourists, including Nigerians in Diaspora who took advantage of the weak naira to secure for themselves luxury services put at several millions of dollars.

Hitherto, local music festivals were held at the end of every year, but in 2024 it attracted renowned international artists and made Lagos a tourist haven and a rendezvous for musicians.

The international visitors spent millions of dollars, taking advantage of the depreciation of the Naira.

Reports indicate that Detty December has become a pilgrimage for music enthusiasts, with Afrobeats as the driving force behind its magnetic pull.

Detty December founded by musician, Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade, alias Mr. Eazy and his partner a few years ago in Ghana and extended to Nigeria later, seemed to have been taken over by the most populous country in Africa.

According to reports, 2024 featured an extraordinary lineup of both international and Nigerian megastars. Global acts like Gunna, Chloe Bailey, Tyla, and Saweetie shared the spotlight with Nigeria’s heavyweights—Davido, Wizkid, Olamide, Burna Boy, Rema, and Arya Starr and analysts say that the pilgrimage to Nigeria will get bigger and bigger every year.

Due to insecurity, fluctuating foreign exchange and policy summersault in terms of visa issuance, Nigeria was not a destination for international tourism but music and entertainment have done the unexpected, bringing prominent entertainers to Nigeria.  

According to reports, a weak naira turned into a strong selling point, as Nigerians in the diaspora and foreign tourists found their dollars increasing its purchasing power, making Nigeria an affordable luxury destination.

Analysts say that weak Naira made it costly for Nigerians to travel overseas; “so, they stayed home during the holidays and fueled domestic tourism and also attracted remittance inflows.”

This was confirmed by reports, which indicated that hotels were fully booked, short-let apartments were snapped up weeks in advance and this shows that Nigeria’s creative industry is untapped and can be the pivot for the building of international tourism in the country.

Travel expert and the organiser of Akwaaba African Travel Market, Ambassador Ikechi Uko, confirmed the influx of foreigners to Lagos, noting also that Nigerians in diaspora travelled to their indigenous states, while some remained in Lagos during the holidays. He also spoke about domestic tourism.

“Lagos gets all the diaspora. It is only native diasporians that are coming home. I see quite a lot of that in Uyo, Enugu, Owerri and Calabar. But the domestic tourism was massive in 2024. Nigerians are in almost every city I have seen in the last two weeks. I have been around Nigeria a little bit in the last two weeks and Nigerians are moving.  The economy is hard, things are tough but Nigerians are visiting friends and families and relatives, everybody is going to visit one family, joining friends, they are partying, old school hangout. Nigeria is like a big party scene right now. On my flight to Owerri, somebody checked in 14 bags, they were coming from Europe. Another person checked in 18 bags, they were coming from America. So quite a lot of people are coming in from outside but I see them as Nigerian diasporans for now. Those are the people I am seeing all around,” he said.

Ambassador Uko said that most hotels in different cities in Nigeria were filled to the brim, which was an indication that domestic tourism is booming.

“Most of the big hotels in Lagos cleaned out. And I am sure you have seen posts about the cheapest hotel rooms in Victoria Island, Lekki, so that is formalised. Quite a lot of numbers, this is massive payday for hospitality business in Lagos, Owerri, in so many of these cities. In Calabar it happens every year. And for the informal player, this is a booming business. Everybody has something to sell and they are people to buy. I was sitting at the airport, I saw quite a lot of those American girls buying up funny books about Nigeria. Quite a lot of books I saw from them that I have never seen before. So everybody has things to sell and people are buying.

“If we are able to organise it properly it will be good for the country.  This idea about the harmattan season started with the then Minister of Tourism, Frank Ogbuewu in 2004 under Obasanjo administration when they created the Abuja Carnival. Calabar Carnival started about that time. And now it has culminated into the Detty December for 2015, 2016, 2017 in Lagos. Now it is a national event. There is no state that is not tripping, almost every state in the southern part of Nigeria is agog now, the business is happening. We need to be able to capture it properly like Ghana did with Christmas in Ghana. So we should be able to formalise it and make it a whole big business. So everybody knows that we are expecting like a million people in Nigeria in December,” he said.

But Uko frowned at the report that 30,000 Africans were denied visa to Dubai for Christmas and advised that Africans should stop going to Dubai for Christmas, and should start spending their Christmas in Africa.

“Nigeria offers quite a lot. There is a party every day somewhere. And I think peak tourism has come to stay in Nigeria. Forget those stories of insecurity. Yes, that insecurity is mainly targeted violence. But the crime as we know it is normal crimes don’t usually exist during this time. So we are having a very good successful domestic tourism period. And I hope it is sustained,” he said.

He also noted that although Nigeria has many tourist attractions, “but the draw are the beaches in Lagos.”

“But the beaches in Lagos are mad. Every beach resort is full. And they are charging top money. So the waterfalls, maybe not this time because this is the harmattan season, colder in the north. So, quite a lot of those places might not be an attraction this time. But if it is about the restaurants, the bars that are by those sites, they are doing well. This is December time, people just want to party, eat, drink, felicitate and enjoy,” he further said.

Detty December has proven that Nigeria can attract international tourists. It is therefore the duty of government to make Nigeria more secure so that instead of Nigerians travelling to other countries during Christmas, Africans can be coming to Nigeria to have good time at Christmas.