Olamma Ojukwu: Tour Operators’ Partnership Boosts Nigeria-Benin Business

The growing collaboration between Nigerian and Beninese tourism operators is opening new business opportunities, attracting more visitors and gradually breaking down barriers between Anglophone and Francophone West Africa.

For Mrs. Olamma Ojukwu, Chief Executive Officer of GOTA Voyage, the travel and tourism arm of GOTA International Group, partnerships among tour operators are essential to unlocking the region’s tourism potential, strengthening cross-border relationships and promoting destinations that have long remained underexplored.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 22nd Akwaaba African Travel Market, Ojukwu highlighted Benin Republic’s cultural heritage, emerging tourism attractions and hospitality offerings, while reflecting on how familiarisation visits and industry networking are translating into business opportunities between the two countries.

She said: “Since 2016, we had the immediate past president that the whole world is talking about that decided to put Benin Republic on the map of Africa. In the early twenties, you would get out of Benin and tell people you’re from Benin, and they would ask you to bring the map. We had to say it is very close to Nigeria, Togo and Ghana for them to actually know where you’re coming from.

“But the past president, Patrice Talon, took Benin to the map of the world. Let me say, he reintroduced Benin. Today, you come to Benin, and we have an emblem called the Amazon, the Woman King. You want to come to West Africa and you don’t have Benin on your map? It’s like you have not begun, because everybody wants to have a picture of the Amazon.

“We are also selling the coastal road of Benin, from the border all the way to our historical city, Bida. You have the express road, you see the beaches, and we have put up waterfront restaurants and buildings where everybody wants to come and sit down and feel like they are in Alicante, Spain, right next door.

“Benin is that country where you know you have no light issues, no water issues, the nightlife is top-notch, you leave your doors open and you don’t have traffic issues. These are many more natural things we are selling in Benin.”

She added: “We brought the operators we were talking about to experience the Venice of Africa, which is our Ganvié. Till today, Benin is that West African country that has decided to make our culture and religion top-notch and sellable to the world. It is the cradle of Voodoo. You come to Benin, and you have the African religion still being celebrated. That is why we have Voodoo, which we celebrate every first week of January. All that and many more are what we have come to sell at Akwaaba.

“GOTA Voyage is actually in Benin, Togo and Nigeria. Being Nigerian-born, we had the top tour operators come to experience Benin for three days. Today, as you saw at this event, the general manager of Azalaï Hotel came with her team to exhibit here. Azalaï Hotel is one of the two hotels that hosted them.

“She now has a lot of Nigerian tour operators bringing tourists from Nigeria to visit Benin. After the event, they left for Abuja to engage partners who had been coming to meet them in Benin, simply because they had tour operators who visited their hotel and that relationship was extended. This shows that a lot of business is now taking place between the two countries simply because Nigerian tour operators visited Benin.

“West Africa is waking up. When I started coming in 2011, and from 2016 when we began to see more participants, we were four. Today, we are nine. This collaboration, I tell you, is only going to grow, and it will amaze you.

“The Benin government sent three delegates to the 2026 Akwaaba. They came to find out why they should exhibit next year. This collaboration has gone beyond the stakeholders; it has reached the government. That means policies around tourism will begin to change, further enhancing the relationship between our two countries.”