Following the decision of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Immigration last week to stop the issuance of visas to Nigerians, stakeholders and travel experts have said the UAE will lose more than Nigeria if the decision is not reversed.
Nigerians spent an estimated N3.3 billion weekly on flights to UAE before airfares increased, according to BusinessDay calculations.
Seyi Adewale, chief executive officer of Mainstream Cargo Limited, said while the UAE visa ban does not affect cargo coming into the country from UAE, it would affect the volume of trade from Nigerians who travel to Dubai for business and shopping.
He said: “UAE are high trade beneficiaries from Nigeria. Nigerians spend a lot of money in Dubai. Emirates operates multiple flights from Nigeria, yet Nigerian carriers are unable to repatriate one quarter of the amount of flights Emirates operate from Nigeria.
“Dubai is also a transit point for thousands of travellers from Nigeria weekly but there are alternatives for Nigerians as they can transit from Addis Ababa, Egypt, Kenya and other African destinations to Europe and the United States.”
He said Nigerians who would be affected by the visa ban are the rich who always love to shop in Dubai, and the political juggernauts who hold frequent meetings there.
He said in terms of trade, the UAE would be the loser.
He said he suspects that the visa ban was meant to force the federal government to repatriate the trapped funds belonging to Emirates and contain the recent public disturbance by some Africans, some of whom were alleged to be Nigerians in Dubai.
In August, a video had emerged, in which some African youths, believed to be Nigerians, were seen fighting in a Dubai community and destroying public properties.
The Nigerian community in Dubai under the umbrella of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, the UAE chapter, swiftly condemned the development while particularly commending the swift intervention of the Dubai Police who got some of the hoodlums arrested.
After arresting them, the police said a criminal case had been registered against the suspects and they would be referred to the public prosecution for further action.
Dubai is one of the top destinations visited by Nigerians for summer, holidays, medical and recreational tourism, among others.
Nigeria continued to rank as Dubai’s largest visitor source market in Africa, with numbers growing in double-digits from 2017 to 2019.
According to the latest inbound tourism data for Dubai, 144,000 Nigerians visited the Emirate between January and August 2019, marking a year-on-year rise of 33 percent. The result then made Nigeria Dubai’s fastest-growing visitor source market in 2019.
Travel experts say these numbers must have doubled as more airlines increased flights and frequencies to UAE after 2019.
Travel experts and stakeholders say the UAE’s visa ban would affect the country more than it would affect Nigeria because Nigerians spend a lot in Dubai through trades and investments, medical and tourism spend, thereby boosting the foreign direct investments of the UAE.
“UAE will lose more by not allowing Nigerians into their country and Nigeria would gain. Nigerians are big spenders, and UAE is their major market,” Susan Akporiaye, president of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies, said.
Akporiaye said UAE will lose revenues made from visa issuance and businesses in UAE will suffer.
Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Egypt Air, Etihad Rwanda and Air Peace airlines fly directly or connect passengers to Dubai.
BusinessDay’s findings show that Emirates, which operates a daily return flight from Dubai to Lagos and Abuja, processes an average of 600 arriving passengers and 600 departing passengers on Lagos and Abuja routes. This implies that daily, the airline processes 1,200 passengers for both arriving and returning on Dubai-Abuja and Dubai-Lagos routes. BusinessDay also found that 50 percent of passengers on Emirates went to Dubai. This means out of the 1,200 passengers, 600 are Dubai passengers daily and 4,200 passengers weekly.
Ethiopian Airlines, which also connects flights to Dubai, operates two daily flights to Lagos and Abuja, with an average of 3oo per flight and airlifts 1,200 passengers for return flights on both routes. Findings show that 30 percent of Ethiopian airlines passengers connect flights to Dubai. This means the airline airlifts 360 Dubai passengers daily. In a week, the airline airlifts 2,520 Dubai passengers.
Read also: UAE visa ban: NIPSS boss urges Nigerians to shun Dubai vacation
Egypt Air, which also carries connecting passengers to Dubai, operates two daily flights to Lagos and Abuja. With an average of 250 passengers per flight, the airline airlifts 1,000 passengers for return flights on both routes.
BusinessDay’s findings show that 20 percent of Egypt Air’s passengers connect flights to Dubai. This means the airline airlifts 200 Dubai passengers daily and 1,400 passengers weekly.
Etihad, which operates only Lagos daily flights to Abu Dhabi, with an average of 300 passengers, airlifts 600 passengers on return flight and airlift about 10 percent passengers who go by road to Dubai. This implies that the airline airlifts 60 Dubai passengers daily and 420 passengers weekly.
Rwanda operates daily flights from Lagos with an average of 300 passengers per flight. The airline has 20 percent Dubai passenger traffic. Therefore, in a day, the airline airlifts 60 Dubai passengers daily and 420 passengers weekly.
Air Peace, which operates three weekly flights to Sharjah and connects to other destinations, airlifts an average of 200 passengers on one leg and 200 passengers on a return trip. This implies that in a week, the airline airlifts 1,200 passengers to Sharjah but has about 30 percent passengers connecting Dubai. This means Air Peace airlifts 360 passengers weekly to Dubai.
This means the six international airlines operating and connecting flights to Dubai airlifts 9,320 Dubai passengers weekly with Emirates airlifting (4,200 passengers), Ethiopian Airlines (2,520), Egypt Air, (1,400), Etihad (420 passengers), Rwanda (420 passengers) and Air Peace (360 passengers).
Before ticket prices surged, a one-way ticket from Lagos or Abuja to Dubai and vice-versa cost an average of N350,000. If a total of 9,320 passengers travelling to Dubai pay N350,000 per flight, this implies that 9,320 passengers would pay N3.3 billion for one week for flights to UAE.
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