The National 1st Deputy President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Alhaji Mohammed Mustapha, has expressed satisfaction with the one week executive retreat embarked upon by the National Executive Council of the association to Safari World, Ghana, saying it has not only helped in giving the association the opportunity to build regional bonds,  it has also opened them to business opportunities for members. 

Mustapha spoke at Aqua Safari in Ada, Ghana during the one week retreat currently embarked upon by the National Executive Council of the NANTA. He said apart from seeing an international standard leisure property to promote at regional level in continuation of the effort to encourage intra-Africa and regional business collaboration, it was an eye-opener in terms of business opportunities in the industry. He said: “Personally, I give credit to local investors trying to develop beautiful things out of Africa. Because I am from Nigeria and I see a great improvement. The last time I was in Ghana was like 13 years ago. So, I have seen a lot of improvements coming this way, I was wondering where are we going to? But coming into this place, I see beautiful the work the investors have done here and it is only nice if we can help them market it.”

Mustapha said the retreat has offered the NANTA executive the opportunity to widen their horizon towards the region’s tourism and partnership with operators in Ghana and other places: “And when the idea came up, it was, overwhelmingly, accepted by all the executives to explore this beautiful place that we are in as part of expanding our horizon in terms regional tourism.”

He said the exposure has also helped the executive  members rub minds and come up with ideas that would move the association forward: “This executives’ retreat and the new initiative in partnership with Safari World is of great help to us. We have held some import discussions undisturbed.

“We used to hold our meetings in Nigeria. However, like I said, when the idea came, there was a unity of acceptance. So, I believe that camaraderie and the kind of the mindset that we came into this place will actually help us to push forward our agenda.  What we are trying to do is to just shape out what we’re going to do as an association to help our members grow in their businesses and to also show the travel industry in a greater and better light. So, that’s the idea of coming for this retreat, so that we’ll be able to work for our people.”