LAGOS/Nigeria: High travel costs are emerging as a major obstacle to the growth of intra-African tourism, with Nigerian travel professionals raising concerns that visiting destinations within Africa can sometimes cost more than travelling outside the continent.
Group Sales and Marketing Manager of Alisa Hotels Group, Esperanza Adjei, raised the concern on the sidelines of the 22nd Akwaaba African Travel Market in Lagos, where the Ghana-based hospitality group engaged Nigerian travel and tourism operators.
Adjei said pricing had become a recurring issue in discussions with Nigerian travel agents, particularly as travellers compare the cost of regional trips with international destinations.
She said the concerns had prompted Alisa Hotels to review its pricing strategy for the Nigerian market, adding that some Nigerian tour operators now receive preferential rates that are more favourable than those offered to certain corporate clients in England.
According to her, the level of enquiries coming from Nigerian travel professionals also indicates sustained interest in Ghana as a tourism and business destination.
“That tells us there’s an interest for the Ghanaian market,” she said.
The hotel group used its engagement at Akwaaba to present travel packages built around its properties in Accra and Tema, combining accommodation with transportation and visits to tourist attractions.
At Alisa Hotel North Ridge in Accra, the group said its 235-room facility includes more than 14 conference rooms and a dome capable of accommodating about 1,000 people. Other facilities include restaurants, bars, a health club, spa, business centre, tennis court and swimming pool.
The hotel said its North Ridge property serves both business and leisure travellers, while packages developed for the Nigerian market combine accommodation with transportation and excursions to selected attractions across Ghana.
The itineraries include markets, shopping malls, beaches and the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, as well as Shai Hills and a chocolate factory.
Its Tema property, according to the group, has 50 rooms and seven meeting facilities, with its largest meeting space accommodating up to 400 people. The hotel also offers a restaurant, sky bar, health club, spa, gym, executive lounge, tennis court and all-day dining facility.
The Tema packages include visits to a chocolate factory, the Ghana Textile Printing facility, beaches and the Shai Hills area.
Alisa Hotels said it had operated for 25 years and hosted more than 15,000 events, including the 2026 African Union Summit, which it said attracted about 1,000 delegates comprising 20 heads of state, 97 government ministers and 97 health experts.
Adjei said the group had also opened discussions with the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies as part of efforts to deepen business links with Nigeria.
She said the hotel group was seeing increased interest from both corporate organisations and individual travellers, with some companies using holidays as incentives for employees and corporate travellers seeking leisure opportunities.
“So, there’s a lot of visibility, there’s a lot of interest, people are making inquiries,” she said.
The engagement highlights a wider challenge for African tourism operators: attracting travellers within the continent may depend not only on the availability of destinations and hospitality facilities, but also on the affordability of flights, accommodation and travel packages.
For Nigerian and Ghanaian tourism businesses, the discussions at Akwaaba provided a platform to explore pricing arrangements, trade partnerships and bundled experiences that could make regional travel more accessible to prospective visitors.
Meta description: High travel costs are putting pressure on intra-African tourism as Alisa Hotels targets Nigerian travellers with preferential rates and Ghana tourism packages.
