Agent Faults Banks’ Sale Of Flight Tickets

Chief Executive Officer,
Sesby’s Travel and Tours Limited,  Mrs Adeola Sesby-Banjoh, on Tuesday faulted the sale of flight tickets by some commercial banks in Nigeria.
Sesby-Banjoh said the practice was one of the major challenges being faced by travel agencies in the country.
She made this known while speaking at the launch of the company’s online portal and services in Lagos.
“The traveling business in Nigeria has been facing a lot of challenges.
“One of our major challenges is that some commercial banks have infiltrated into the travel business by selling airlines’ tickets .
“It is only in Nigeria that it is done. It is not done in Britain and in the United States,”Sesby-Banjoh said.
She said in these countries, the business of selling airlines tickets is restricted to travel agencies and not commercial banks.
According to her, the main objective of banks is to keep deposits and lend money to their customers and not dabbling into areas where they lack the prerequisite expertise.
She said that the company made an excess turnover of  N1 billion in 2014 despite the challenges in the sub-sector.
Sesby-Banjoh said the travel agency had maintained a cordial relationship with other stakeholders such as airlines and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) since it began operations in 2002.
According to her,the agency’s major aim is to take off travel stress from customers by giving them affordable and accessible services.