Gloria Ehichanya Abiodun, the Chief Executive Officer of Clyymaxx Heritage Travels and Tours Limited, talks on how partnership between NATOP and Lagos State Government has brought positive changes in the tourism, travels and tours sector, among other salient issues. Charles Ajunwa brings excerpts The National Association of Tour Operators recently unveiled the first national Secretariat in Lagos after 10 years of its existence. What’s your take? I feel excited. In fact, this milestone is worth celebrating. First, I want to thank our National President Bolaji Mustapha, her executives and all NATOP members for bringing this to fruition. Secondly, I want to also thank the Lagos State Government through the Commissioner for Tourism, Arts Culture, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka, for the state’s collaboration and partnership with NATOP which contributed immensely to our having an office along Opebi Oregun Link Bridge, Ikeja. Our 2026 Annual General Meeting is hosted by Lagos State for the second time. Without mincing words, Lagos has never had it this good where a Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture through hard work and focus has continued to deliver on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration’s core agenda for the tourism, arts and culture sector. She has truly put Lagos on the global map. The commissioner’s tireless efforts also contributed to the success of Detty December where Lagos generated an estimated economic impact of N396.54 billion (approximately $250 million) from tourism, hospitality and entertainment. Because of these achievements, today there is strong collaboration between the Lagos State Government and Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy to expand and fine tune Detty December in order to generate more revenues for the state in particular and country in general. How have you been promoting tourism? I have been in this business for the past 10 years, and we are into all travel-related services. We focus more on inbound and outbound tours. We organise school tours and personalised tours depending on what the clients really want. So, what we consider most is the affordability, and pocket-friendly packages. When the client comes to us, we are able to work it out, so that at the end of the day the client would have value for what he or she is paying for. We do not compromise with our policy and values. That has been something that has really worked for us especially when we get referrals from past services to our clients. Another way we promote tourism in Nigeria, is that when we visit some tourists’ sites across the country, we first check how attractive those sites are because a lot of Nigerians are used to going outside the country to spend their holidays because our government has not really focused on showcasing and maintaining some of the tourists’ sites. Last year, as a tour operator, we were opportune to go to Ondo State. There’s a beach resort they want to build there and I see that as an opportunity. So, what I do is to follow up with the contacts I have there. Whenever that resort is ready, I will be able to sell it to my clients. Other places I have been to like Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort in Ekiti, where I took real-life pictures to be able to sell to my clients for first-time experience. Other beautiful sites include the War Museum in Umuahia, Ojukwu Bunker, Azumiri Blue River, Long Juju of Arochukwu all in Abia State, Awhum Waterfall, Ngwo Pine Forest and Cave, Udi Hill, Nike Lake Resort in Enugu State, and Obudu Ranch in Cross River State. All these are inbound. For outbound, we normally take tours to Kenya, Cathar, Egypt, Zanzibar and other countries. Currently, I have clients that will be going to African countries with huge tourism potential and they will be having some good experience. Getting their visa was easy because they are not too rigid. But one major problem we notice is that most clients don’t have required documents. We advise them to go to countries that are easily accessible. If the client is a first-time traveller, we also take our time to advise our clients on A-list countries they can go to. So, while you are building your travelling history into those countries that are easily accessible, we also help to guide on what to put in place so that you will be qualified to go to these A-list countries like UK, Canada, and US, or Schengen countries. But for now, we try as much as we can to encourage most Nigerians and foreigners to visit our tourist sites here. You see, the major challenge we have now is the information going on in the social media concerning security. So, you need to talk and talk and talk to convince clients. There is the cost of security. By the time you now want to build in the cost of security, it makes the package look somehow expensive. So, that is basically the challenge. How are you able to cope with the tough business environment now? Honestly, i
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