To encourage West Africans to travel within the region while making West Africa an open domestic market, AKWAABA Travel Market, in collaboration with Ghana Tourism Authority, has organised the 7th Accra Weizo West African Travel Expo in Ghana recently.
Accra Weizo travel expo seeks to grow seamless travel in West Africa and create the opportunity to harness the market and opportunities within.
This year’s edition, which commenced on June 24 was a four nation’s road trip that took delegates from Nigeria through Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana where the Accra Weizo travel expo conference and exhibition was held on the 28th at Accra City Hotel. Tour and travel professionals from Nigeria alongside tour operators and stakeholders across the four nations joined Accra Weizo Travel expo. Other exciting activities include, Night Life, Boat Cruise, B2B Networking, Balafon Award of Excellence and Exhibitions. Delegates were also treated to a welcome Cocktail by Kempinksi Hotel.
However, during the West Africa road trip, the challenges on the borders of each country came with its own peculiar challenges, one described as torture by the delegates who set out from Nigeria to Benin Republic, Togo and finally Ghana. This supposed border protocol makes traveling by road an experience far from seamless but cumbersome, frustrating and exhausting, such that traveling by air across West Africa is a perfect resort, however due to the high rate of flying, more people endure the cumbersomeness of road West African countries road travels.
Based on regressive border/boundary policies which lead to delays of travelers, crude procedures and the covert hostility, which you must soften with bribes, many who travel by road end up frustrated on the journey.
All of these were issues addressed at the 7th Accra Weizo, where panelists which consisted of travel and tourism experts harped on how challenges in road travels within African countries poses setbacks to free market in the sub-region, which negates the principle of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). There are many tourist destinations, including hotels and resorts along the Atlantic coast in many West African nations. “There are beautiful tourism attractions, which are bewildering and amazing but they do not receive enough guests because of inhibitions on road travel across West African states.”
Speaking at the conference, the organiser of Accra Weizo, Ambassador Ikechi Uko, said, “with over 400 million people West Africa could become economically empowered with free market and seamless travel. Trade number is very important as it gives a lot of power and we have the numbers. What we are trying to do is to get West Africa to operate as a domestic market. There is power in that. This year we decided to go further. We decided that the problem is not at the airport. The problem is at the land border. A lot of people are not privileged to fly, so they have to travel by road. So, we decided to do a road trip across the four countries that are together, Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana. We don’t want to tell you the stories we met at the border. What happens in Benin stays in Benin. What happens in Togo stays in Togo. Although, it was an exciting experience having to travel with Ghanaian tour operators, Nigerian tour operators, Benin tour operators, Togo tour operators. And we found out that we are neighbours to Togo, but most Ghanaians don’t know Togo. And we discovered other borders, that Aflao is not the only border between Togo and Ghana. We were looking for a new lee way, and we ended up at the Shia border, and we had to enter through there. However, it turned out that the border is one of the most pleasant borders I have seen in West Africa. It is different from the nightmare of other border posts. But that is the idea behind seamless travel.”
Ambassador Uko further said that if the government of West African states encouraged seamless travel by road it would boost business interaction among the people of the sub-region; even if they are citizens of different countries. Such interaction, he noted, would diminish language barriers, create networks among potential business partners and overall, increase trade. “But if you deal with only Ghana, I assure you, you will only be rich in Cedi. If you deal with your neighbours, your brothers and everybody, we all become one. This is why it is pertinent that countries in ECOWAS review their road travel protocol to encourage more interstate movement by easing inhibitions to seamless travel.
This will encourage trade, tourism and integration. So, the concept of Accra Weizo is to change our mindset, to see ourselves as brothers. I needed to reinforce this so you know why we do Accra Weizo. In West Africa, we initiated that need to move around. The ECOWAS protocol is the first in Africa.
They have been left behind and this is our own opportunity. And the private sector will start something and the governments will come in, which is okay” Uko said.
The event is also supported by GOTA Voyages Benin, Tour Operators Union of Ghana (TOUGHA), ABC Transport, Accra City Hotel and Royal Senchi Resorts and powered by Akwaaba African Travel Market and ATQ News.