At the 22nd Akwaaba African Travel Market in Lagos, GOTA International CEO Olanma Ojukwu reflected on years of cross-border tourism promotion, the growing participation of Francophone destinations, and how stronger business relationships between Nigeria and Benin Republic are creating new opportunities for West African tourism.
There was something distinctly symbolic about seeing tourism operators from across linguistic and national boundaries gathered under one roof at the 22nd Akwaaba African Travel Market at Eko Hotels in Lagos.
For Olanma Ojukwu, CEO of GOTA International Group and a familiar face at Akwaaba, the gathering represented more than another edition of a tourism exhibition. It was evidence that some of the barriers separating Africa’s tourism markets are beginning to give way.
Ojukwu has been part of the Akwaaba journey for years. She first met the event’s convener, Ikechi Uko, at World Travel Market London in 2011. Since then, she has returned almost every year, missing only the 2020 edition. In 2016, she was appointed Akwaaba representative in Benin Republic and Togo, a role that helped him build a bridge between operators in those markets and Nigeria’s tourism industry.
This year, that bridge brought nine delegates from Benin Republic, including hotels and tour operators.
For Ojukwu, it was a moment worth celebrating.
“Every year Akwaaba, you see Akwaaba go to the next level. Every year, I saw Gabon, Senegal, French-speaking countries that we were seeing for the very first time. Cameroon is also here.”
She sees the growing participation of Francophone destinations as an important development for African tourism.
Breaking the Francophone–Anglophone Divide
West Africa’s tourism market has long been influenced by linguistic, historical and administrative boundaries. Nigeria and other English-speaking countries operate within one ecosystem, while Benin, Togo, Senegal, Gabon and several other countries have predominantly Francophone tourism networks.
Ojukwu believes exhibitions such as Akwaaba are helping to make those boundaries less significant at the level where tourism businesses actually operate: relationships.
“Gradually we are breaking them,” she said, referring to the barriers between French- and English-speaking tourism markets.
Her argument is straightforward. When tour operators meet, exchange contacts, visit one another’s destinations and develop partnerships, the practical obstacles to doing business across borders begin to diminish.
That process was already visible at Akwaaba, where Ojukwu said new relationships were formed with operators from Gabon and other participating countries.
“The networking, these exchanges between the countries, begins to make things easier,” she said.
For the African tourism industry, that kind of business-to-business connectivity could be significant. Rather than treating African countries as isolated destinations competing individually for international visitors, stronger regional relationships can create opportunities for multi-country itineraries, joint marketing and increased intra-African travel.
Bringing Benin Republic to the Nigerian Market
Ojukwu’s work extends beyond attending tourism exhibitions.
Through GOTA-Voyage, the travel and tourism arm of GOTA International Group, she has been actively connecting tourism businesses in Nigeria and the Benin Republic.
GOTA International itself operates across three broad areas: travel, property and premium services, while Ojukwu also serves as Financial Secretary of the Nigeria Association of Tour Operators (NATOP).
Her strategy has included bringing Nigerian tour operators to experience Benin Republic firsthand.
The results, she said, have been visible in the relationships that followed.
A group of Nigerian operators recently visited Benin for three days, experiencing hotels and tourism products directly. According to Ojukwu, those visits subsequently generated business relationships between Nigerian operators and Beninese hospitality providers.
She pointed specifically to Azalaï Hotel in Benin, whose General Manager participated at Akwaaba and has seen increasing engagement with Nigerian tour operators.
The relationship, Ojukwu explained, did not end when the Nigerian visitors returned home.
Partners continued meeting in Benin, while Nigerian operators began bringing tourists across the border.
That, in her view, is the practical value of tourism networking.
The exhibition creates the meeting. The destination visit builds familiarity. The business relationship creates the commercial opportunity.
Reintroducing Benin to the World
Ojukwu also believes Benin Republic has undergone a significant transformation in the way it presents itself as a tourism destination.
She recalled a time when telling people outside the region that he was from Benin often required an explanation of where the country was located.
Today, she argues, the destination has become considerably more visible.
A major part of that repositioning has been the country’s emphasis on history, culture and heritage.
Among the symbols being promoted is the image of the Amazon — the historical warrior women associated with the former Kingdom of Dahomey — which has become a powerful representation of Benin’s heritage.
For Ojukwu, the message is clear: West African tourism cannot depend solely on conventional beach or leisure products. History, culture, architecture, food, religion and living traditions can all become compelling reasons to travel.
Benin’s coastal developments, waterfront experiences, beaches and historical attractions are among the products he says GOTA-Voyage is promoting to Nigerian travellers.
She also points to the country’s cultural identity, particularly its connection with Vodun, which is celebrated during an annual festival in January.
Rather than hiding cultural traditions, Ojukwu believes destinations can package them responsibly and present them to the world as part of their tourism identity.
Tourism as a Two-Way Street
One of the strongest themes running through Ojukwu’s interview is reciprocity.
Her objective is not simply to persuade Nigerians to visit Benin. It is to create a tourism relationship in which operators, hotels and travellers from both countries benefit.
That approach reflects a wider opportunity for intra-African tourism.
Nigeria represents a substantial potential source market for destinations across West Africa, while Nigerian travellers can discover destinations that are geographically close but often underexplored.
The experience of the Nigerian operators who visited Benin illustrates the point.
READ: Africa: Gambia Woos Nigerian Travellers, Travel Trade Ahead of Akwaaba 2026
A familiarisation trip can change how a destination is perceived. An operator who has personally experienced a hotel, attraction or tourism route is better positioned to package and sell that destination to clients.
The same model can work in reverse.
Government Is Beginning to Pay Attention
For Ojukwu, perhaps one of the most significant developments at the 2026 Akwaaba was not simply the presence of private-sector operators from Benin.
It was the arrival of government representatives.
She noted that the Benin government sent three delegates to the event to assess why Benin should participate and exhibit at Akwaaba.
That development, she suggested, indicates that cross-border tourism collaboration is moving beyond individual businesses and beginning to attract institutional attention.
“The collaboration so far has gone beyond just the stakeholders, has gone beyond just the actors. It has gotten into the ears of the government,” she said.
If sustained, greater government involvement could have implications for tourism policy, destination promotion, border processes and regional travel facilitation.
But Ojukwu’s emphasis remains on the private sector creating the relationships that demonstrate what is possible.
Akwaaba as a Homecoming
Ojukwu describes Akwaaba in deeply personal terms.
“Akwaaba, we call it homecoming,” she said.
Her connection with the event stretches back to 2011, and his role in bringing operators from Benin and Togo has grown over the years.
What began with a smaller group has expanded to nine participants from Benin at this year’s edition.
She sees that progression as evidence that tourism exhibitions can serve as more than marketplaces. They can become platforms through which destinations understand one another and build long-term commercial relationships.
The presence of Gabon, Senegal and Cameroon at the 22nd edition further reinforced that message for him.
For Ojukwu, the future of West African tourism will depend partly on how effectively countries turn these encounters into sustained partnerships.
Building a Connected West African Tourism Market
Ojukwu’s vision ultimately extends beyond GOTA International.
It is about a West African tourism market where borders remain politically defined but become less restrictive to legitimate tourism business, cultural exchange and travel.
Her experience between Nigeria and Benin offers a practical example of how that process can happen: operators meet, destinations are experienced firsthand, hotels build relationships, travellers cross borders and governments begin to recognise the economic possibilities.
“We are waking up,” Ojukwu said of the region’s growing tourism collaboration, adding that she believes the relationship “is only called to grow.”
That growth, however, will depend on turning networking into sustained business, tourism exhibitions into year-round partnerships, and destination promotion into genuine visitor experiences.
At the 22nd Akwaaba African Travel Market, Ojukwu was not simply selling Benin Republic.
She was advocating for a more connected West African tourism economy — one in which Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Senegal, Gabon, Cameroon and other African destinations increasingly see one another not merely as neighbouring countries, but as partners in building a stronger African travel market.
For GOTA International and GOTA-Voyage, that philosophy is already being tested on the ground.
And perhaps the most revealing measure of its progress is simple: the journey from one tourism exhibition to another is gradually becoming a journey between destinations, businesses and people.
By Sam Opoku_
