South African Airways eyes Nigerian tourism market with new partnership

South African Airways (SAA) has reached out to the Nigerian Association of Tour Operators (NATOP) to forge a partnership that will showcase the country’s vibrant tourism attractions to the world, in a bid to boost inbound tourism to Nigeria.

This initiative is part of SAA’s efforts to promote Nigeria as a destination of interest to global travellers, leveraging its Johannesburg-Lagos route to attract visitors from around the world.

SAA recently held a Tour Consultants Product Training workshop aimed at promoting key SAA holiday destinations and the Voyager loyalty programme.

The event, which took place at the Movenpick Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, was an exclusive engagement with leading tour operators and destination marketing practitioners.

Kemi Leke-Bamtefa, the Airline’s Country Manager, said: “SAA prides itself as an African Network carrier, connecting passengers and cargo to South Africa and Points beyond Johannesburg. Our network keeps expanding with seamless connections into Harare, Lusaka, Windhoek, Dar es Salaam, Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, and long-haul routes like Sao Paulo and Perth.

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Furthermore, the Country Manager revealed further that the airline is currently looking at ways of promoting inbound tourism into Nigeria via its Johannesburg – Lagos route. To this end, SAA is forging ties with NATOP with plans to host destination marketing events across various routes on its network in an effort to showcase the country’s vibrant tourism attractions and promote Nigeria as a destination of interest to the world.

Bolaji Mustapha, the President of NATOP, welcomed the development and expressed delight in partnering with SAA to boost inbound tourism to the country.

“Nigeria is blessed with a number of beautiful tourism sites and destinations with rich history and culture which initiatives such as this would go a long way to offer visitors a chance to explore and enjoy. Leisure activities and a variety of festivals also abound across the country all year round which we can package and sell to visitors from around the world such as the Calabar Festival or Dirty December to mention a few,” she said.

South African Airways currently flies four times weekly out of Lagos to Johannesburg on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with seamless connections to points beyond.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.