Travel/Tourism
Growing The Rural Communities Through Sustainable Tourism
By Olukayode Kolawole
The responsibility to grow our rural communities is a shared one. In fact, majority of the tourism sites in Nigeria are located in most of the rural areas. Developments in these areas are not as fast-paced as urban communities.
Every year, rural development always finds its way to the government’s shopping list but somehow doesn’t make it to the priority list. Reasons for this might include, but not limited to, insufficient budget, lack of proper planning and measurable goals.
Most of the tourism sites in the country domicile within these rural communities. It is therefore surprising why we are investing hugely to develop these communities, considering the fact that we are making conscious efforts to grow our tourism and travel industry into a melting pot.
Sustainable tourism implies that a tourist who visits a place tries to make positive impact on the environment, society and economy as well. There are a good number of ways to do this: respect the people who call the location home, their culture and customs and the socio-economic system in the area.
While it is not surprising that often times people tend to confuse sustainable tourism with ecotourism, whereas ecotourism is actually an aspect of sustainable tourism; this article will focus on the economic importance of ecological tourism (ecotourism).
Tourism has many merits, no doubt. One of its demerits is that it causes damage on the environment.
Ecotourism, on the other hand, seeks to promote responsible travel to natural areas that protect the environment and advance the prosperity of the local people. It aims to provide a fun, relaxing vacation while protecting the surrounding ecosystem.
It often works to train and engage the participants in an eco-friendly lifestyle. The adverse effects of hotels, trails and other infrastructure are reduced through the use of either recycled supplies or abundantly existing local building materials, recycling, renewable sources of energy and safe disposal of waste and refuse.
If well managed, ecotourism will contribute actively to the maintenance of natural and cultural heritage, namely, inclusion of local and indigenous communities in its planning, development and operation, which reduces poverty and enhances intercultural & environmental understanding.
As a responsible traveller who is interested in minimizing the negative impacts of his tour and if you take special interest in local nature and cultures, ecotourism should appeal to you.
Remote areas, whether populated or unpopulated and are typically under some kind of environmental protection at different levels are destinations for ecotourism. Regulating the number of tourists and type of behaviour will ensure limited damage to the ecosystem as well as contribute to the minimization of its impact.
Tourists and residents of nearby communities need to be educated before departure through reading materials about the country they are visiting, location and the people, as well as a code of conduct for both the traveller and the industry. This information helps prepare the tourists.
Well-trained, multilingual naturalist guides serve to educate members of the neighbouring community, students and the larger community in the host country. To do so, entrance and lodge fees for nationals must be reduced and free educational travels for indigenous students and those living near the tourist attraction should be encouraged.
In addition, it also helps increase funds for ecological protection, investigation and education through a selection of apparatuses, including park entrance fees, tour companies, hotels, hotel booking portals like Jumia Travel, airlines and airport taxes and voluntary contributions.
National parks and other conservation areas will only subsist if there are “happy people” around their borders. The inclusion and participation of the local community is critical to the success of ecotourism.
These communities should receive proceeds and other physical benefits (potable water, roads, hospitals, etc.) from the conservation area and its tourist amenities.
Campgrounds, hotels, chaperon services, restaurants and other enterprises should be run by or in partnership with communities surrounding a park or other tourist destinations.
For ecotourism to be seen as a tool for rural development, total economic and political control must be given to the communal, township, cooperative, or entrepreneur.
This is the most challenging and time wasting idea in the economic equation and the one that foreign operators most often let it slip through the cracks or that they follow only partially or formally.
Tourism helps in building international understanding and world peace although this does not happen automatically; frequently in fact, tourism strengthens the economies of repressive and high-handed states.
Mass tourism pays scarce attention to the political structure of the host country or struggles within it, unless civil unrest escapes into outbreaks on tourists. Ecotourism demands a more holistic method to travel, one in which participants try to respect, study about and profit both the local environment and local communities.
In many emerging countries, rural residents around national parks and other ecotourism attractions are sealed in contests with the government and transnational corporations for control of the assets. Eco-tourists should therefore be sensitive to the host country’s political environment and social climate and need to contemplate the merits of global boycotts called for by those supportive of democratic reforms.
Olukayode Kolawole is a Head of PR & Marketing at Jumia Travel NG
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
To help travellers move from trip intent to search, comparison and planning through natural conversation, Radisson Hotel Group has partnered with Accenture to introduce an AI-powered hotel discovery app in ChatGPT.
The launch marks an important step in Radisson Hotel Group’s move toward agentic commerce, a shift from traditional, channel-based booking journeys to AI-led experiences where discovery, comparison, and decision-making happen through conversation.
As travellers increasingly turn to AI to ask questions, narrow down options, and plan trips, hospitality brands need to be visible, accurate, and actionable at the moment of intent.
Available as @RadissonHotels in ChatGPT, the app enables users to search for Radisson Hotels properties across over 100 countries and more than 1,000 hotels through natural conversation.
By starting a new ChatGPT conversation with @RadissonHotels at the start of the prompt, travellers can ask for advice to plan a family-friendly weekend stay in Amsterdam, or a hotel in Paris with a gym and spa near the Eiffel Tower.
The app will respond with relevant Radisson Hotels properties with live inventory and rates, location context, amenities, hotel details, and interactive map-based results. When ready, travellers are directed to complete the reservation through the Radisson Hotels website.
Commenting on the development, the chief commercial officer of Radisson Hotel Group, Gianni Di Fede, said, “AI is radically transforming how people search for and book hotel stays, and we are committed to being at the forefront of this shift.
“With Accenture, we are reimagining hotel discovery for the next generation of travellers—meeting guests in the planning moment with a branded experience that makes it easier to find, compare, and book Radisson Hotels properties.”
Also commenting, the chief executive of Accenture, Ndidi Oteh, said, “Agentic commerce is fundamentally changing how people discover and choose brands. As journeys become more conversational and intent-driven, companies have to rethink how they show up — not just to be found, but to be chosen, and to deliver value in that moment.
“Radisson Hotel Group is taking a step in that direction, creating a more direct and meaningful way to connect with travellers when decisions are being made.”
The senior managing director and global Travel lead for Accenture, Emily Weiss, said, “With travel, planning is becoming easier for consumers, but more competitive for brands.
“Travellers want to compare options quickly, narrow down choices and book with confidence, often in a single journey. That puts pressure on brands to show up with accurate, up-to-date, and easy-to-navigate information at every step.
“With Radisson Hotel Group, the focus was on making hotel content more accessible, so travellers can find what they need, explore options, and move to booking more seamlessly.”
As traditional travel and second-residency destinations like London and Paris become increasingly restrictive and expensive, forward-thinking African investors are shifting their gaze, with Greece quietly emerging as the most strategic, high-value decision a Nigerian traveller or wealth-builder can make.
There is a version of Europe that Nigerians have been selling for decades, which is London, Paris and maybe Amsterdam. They are familiar, expensive and are becoming increasingly difficult to get into. Greece is the counter-argument. Older than all of them, more beautiful than most and, right now, quietly becoming one of the smartest moves an African traveller or investor, can make.
Greece: The Country
Greece is one of the few places in the world that earns every photograph taken of it. The Aegean in full summer light is genuinely that colour. The ruins are genuinely that old. The food is genuinely good. What makes Greece remarkable as a destination, however, is not a single thing, but a range of things.
Athens is a capital city carrying the full weight of Western civilisation on its back, and somehow still functioning as a modern, energetic place to actually live. The Acropolis sits above a neighbourhood of rooftop bars, vinyl record shops and restaurants where you eat well for a fraction of what you would spend in Rome. Santorini delivers on every expectation; Mykonos runs at a different frequency entirely. It is unapologetically cosmopolitan, built for people who want the Mediterranean and the party in the same week. Crete, the largest island, holds its own world: ancient Minoan ruins, dramatic gorges, a food culture distinct from the rest of Greece and enough coastline to spend a fortnight without repeating a beach.
Beyond the names, there are another two hundred inhabited islands. Some of the best experiences in Greece happen on the ones nobody has heard of.
Why It Works for Nigerians Specifically
Greek food is generous and deeply flavoured: grilled seafood, slow-cooked lamb, and wine that costs almost nothing. For a Nigerian palate, it lands. The country is safe, the English penetration in tourist areas is high, and the culture has genuine warmth toward visitors rather than a transactional tolerance of them.
Practically, Greece is also better value than the European destinations Nigerians typically default to. A week in Athens and one of the islands costs significantly less than an equivalent week in London or Paris, with a better climate and more to actually see.
Getting There and Getting In
There are no direct flights from Lagos or Abuja to Athens. Connections run through Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, Dubai on Emirates, or Addis Ababa on Ethiopian, with total journey times from around ten hours. Turkish Airlines tends to offer the most competitive fares on this corridor. Nigerian passport holders require a Schengen visa, which covers up to 90 days across the entire Schengen zone, implying that a Greece trip can roll into Italy or France on the same document.
The Bigger Play: Residency Through Property
For Nigerians who have spent years watching London prices climb past £500,000 and US investor visas demand upwards of $800,000 in complex, job-creating commitments, Greece quietly offers something the others have stopped offering: a clear, property-linked path to EU residency that actually works.
The Golden Visa programme is the mechanism. With a minimum real estate investment starting from €250,000, the Greek Golden Visa provides the lowest entry point, compared to other European residency schemes. Invest in qualifying Greek real estate, and you receive a five-year renewable EU residence permit for yourself, your spouse, your children and both sets of parents. No minimum stay or points system or lottery. It is simply ownership. And after seven years of continuous residency, a Greek and, therefore, EU passport becomes a genuine possibility.
The investment returns are real too. Athens property prices rose 8.5% in 2024 alone. Rental yields average 4–5% annually in the city, with stronger returns during peak tourism periods. New-build properties currently carry an exemption from the standard 24% VAT, reducing upfront costs considerably. For Nigerians looking to move wealth out of naira exposure and into a hard currency, income-generating asset in a stable EU market, the numbers are not incidental; they are the point.
But here is where most people get stuck: the fear of getting it wrong. Stories of fraudulent intermediaries, unclear property titles, and lost investments have made many Nigerians hesitant about putting serious money into foreign real estate. That hesitation is legitimate.
It is also exactly what MIBS Group was built to resolve. With over 50 years of experience as a real estate developer in Greece and deep expertise in the Golden Visa process, MIBS Group handles the full journey for African investors, from identifying and acquiring the right property through the visa application itself to rental management once the investment is in place. They understand both the Greek market and the specific concerns of Nigerian and African buyers. With the recent opening of their Lagos office, MIBS Group has strengthened its presence in Nigeria, offering face-to-face support and serving as a reliable local partner for Nigerian investors throughout their investment journey. That combination- high-end properties and end-to-end trusted guidance- is what turns a complicated cross-border investment into a straightforward, protected transaction.
Where other destinations keep raising the bar, Greece keeps the door open. And with MIBS Group, Nigerians can walk through it with confidence.
The Case Closed
Greece earns the attention it is getting. It is beautiful in a way that requires no filter and no curation. It is historically significant in a way that makes everywhere else feel recent. And right now, it is one of the few European countries offering Africans a genuinely accessible path, not just to visit, but to belong.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Peter Obi, has called for a comprehensive investigation into the runway excursion of an Enugu Air aircraft during landing at the Benin Airport on Thursday.
He also expressed relief, describing the safe evacuation of all passengers and crew as a cause for gratitude in a statement on X on Friday.
Mr Obi said he received the news of the incident “with profound relief,” noting that all 68 passengers and crew members on board disembarked safely without injuries or fatalities.
Business Post reports that Flight 4264 (registration 5N-ENR) from Lagos (LOS) to Benin (BNI) got involved in the runway excursion after overrunning the end of Runway 05 during landing.
Also, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has commenced an investigation into the incident involving the Embraer E170 aircraft at the Benin Airport.
“I join all Nigerians in thanking God Almighty that all 68 passengers and crew members on board disembarked safely, with no injuries or fatalities recorded. The preservation of human life must always remain our highest priority,” he said.
Mr Obi commended the pilot, cabin crew, and airport emergency response teams for their swift and professional response, saying their actions helped prevent a more serious outcome.
“I commend the pilot, the flight crew, and the airport emergency response teams at Benin Airport for their swift, professional, and coordinated handling of the situation, which helped avert what could have been a far more serious incident. Their composure and decisiveness under pressure deserve the highest commendation,” he stated.
While expressing gratitude for the safe outcome, Mr Obi described the incident as a reminder of the need to strengthen aviation safety measures across the country.
“The incident serves as a sobering reminder of the importance of unwavering adherence to aviation safety protocols, rigorous aircraft maintenance, and sustained investment in airport infrastructure and operational standards across the country,” he said.
The former Anambra State governor also called on the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau to carry out a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation into the circumstances surrounding the runway excursion.
“I urge the relevant regulatory and investigative authorities, particularly the NCAA and the NSIBo, to conduct a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident and to make their findings and recommendations public,” Mr Obi said.
He added that every aviation incident should be treated as an opportunity to improve safety standards and reinforce public confidence in Nigeria’s aviation sector.
“Every aviation occurrence presents an opportunity to strengthen our safety systems. Learning from this incident will further reinforce public confidence in Nigeria’s aviation sector and help ensure that our skies remain among the safest possible,” he added.
