The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), recently, endorsed  Tour Brokers International (TBI), as the offical tour operator for the 2010 World Cup. TBI packages tourism services to select destinations for Nigerian business and leisure travellers and to expatriates living in Nigeria.  In this

interview with Shola Adekola, Managing Director of the firm, Mrs. Uloma Egbuna,  speaks on packages that tourists can take advantage of the World Cup in South Africa, among other issues. Excerpts:

Your firm, Tour Brokers International, was recently endorsed by FIFA as one of the tour operators for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa; could you tell us what this has to do with tourism or tour operator business and how Nigerians can benefit from this?

As a participating tour operator, we are partnering with FIFA in the sale of all-inclusive tour packages for the 2010 World cup. FIFA is selling to tour brokers guaranteed match tickets for the World Cup. These match tickets are not just for the Nigerian matches, but for all other matches. In other words, Nigerians who also want to watch matches of other countries can purchase tickets for such matches from Tour Brokers International. In addition to the match ticket, FIFA is also providing accommodation in South Africa, land arrangements such as return airport transfers and return transfers from the hotels to the venue of the matches. In addition, for large groups, FIFA is also providing us with charter flights. We are also working with the South African Airways and Kenya Airways to provide flights for our clients who are going to South Africa . As a South African Tourism(SAT) partner in Nigeria, we are in conjunction with SAT currently running radio jingles and newspaper adverts encouraging Nigerians to go for the World Cup.

The Nigeria Football Federation has also endorsed this accreditation and is committed to maintaining close communication with the South African High Commission to ensure that Nigerians who are going to South Africa to watch the World cup are not faced with visa challenges. FIFA is also working hard to ensure that people who purchase world cup packages through the tour operator programme go through a stress free process to obtain visas for the world cup. To this end, FIFA is issuing visa certificates to accredited tour operators for their clients. The visa certificate is like a direct entry to South Africa; it is given to clients who have bought all inclusive packages to the world cup and allows you to apply for a visa at no cost. I understand that the South African High Commission has been briefed on this arrangement and is putting their house in order to ensure the entire process is hitch-free

How do you get Nigerians to take advantage of this opportunity to buy these packages you are offering?

It is particularly important to us in Tour Brokers that there is a clear distinction that should be made. Tour Brokers has invested a lot of money in the acquisition of tickets, hotel rooms and transportation services in South Africa . We have made substantial investment, in other words; we are not buying through a South African organisation. We have actually raised our own money locally and invested in acquiring these services, which we will be selling to members of the public. We understand that Nigeria is a notoriously late booking market; we have, therefore, made these investments to ensure Nigerians, even at the last minute, can still get match tickets, flights and accommodation. We are expecting that our investment will ultimately pay off and I think that is the key. Other companies have associates and affiliates who they are teaming up with in South Africa , but we have had to come up with several millions of naira in upfront money directly to FIFA, that is important.   Tour Brokers International is also partnering with HRG Nigeria, a member of the HRG worldwide network, a leading corporate travel services multinational. Both companies have similar corporate ethics, focus and values. This partnership is bringing the best in corporate travel services and logistics together with the best in tours and leisure services. The partnership widens our customer base, as we are providing access for purchase to the individual families amongst our corporate and multinational clients all inclusive value added services associated with the world cup. One of the value added service to our clients is that we will be providing free branded materials for their use while in South Africa.

We have also extended our services to Nigerians in the diaspora. We have been contacted by  large number of Nigerians in America and the UK, who want to use our platform to watch the Super Eagle