Photo caption: Karl Hala
*Calls for national convention bureau, stronger MICE strategy and easier regional access
Karl Hala, Group General Manager, Continental Hotels Group, managers of Lagos Continental Hotel and Abuja Continental Hotel, says Nigeria will not grow tourism by waiting for more flights. The country must first create the demand that makes those flights viable.
Speaking at AeroWest Summit 2026 in Lagos, Hala said the central question for Nigeria’s tourism economy is not connectivity, but purpose.
“An airline can bring somebody to Lagos. But something must make them want to come. Something must make them stay, spend — and, most importantly, return. That is destination development,” he stated.
Hala identified *MICE — meetings, incentives, conferences and events* — as Nigeria’s biggest untapped driver.
“One international congress can bring 500, 1,000 or 2,000 delegates. They fill aircraft and hotels. They use restaurants and transport. They visit attractions and some return with their families. That is economic impact you can measure,” he said.
To capture this, he called for the urgent establishment of a professional National Convention Bureau.
“Today, too much business is pursued individually. A hotel bids. An airline negotiates. A ministry participates. But successful destinations win international congresses as destinations. Nigeria needs to bid as Nigeria,” Hala argued.
The proposed Bureau, he said, should manage one national events calendar, one international bidding platform, and one coordinated interface linking government, airlines, hotels, convention centres and associations.
He also stressed that access remains part of the product.
“It is not simply: do we have a flight? It is also: can I obtain my visa easily? Can I travel seamlessly between West and Central Africa? Can a business traveller extend a two-day conference into a four-day regional experience?”
Nigeria, Hala noted, already has the raw materials: over 250 ethnic groups, Afrobeats, Nollywood, fashion, food, two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and a creative economy centered in Lagos.
“We must connect these assets into experiences that are easy to discover, easy to book and worth extending a visit for. That is how we turn an arrival into a stay — and a stay into a story worth sharing.”
Citing experience from the Group’s properties, Hala added:
“At Lagos Continental Hotel and Abuja Continental Hotel*, we see this directly. The *Ladi Kwali Conference Centre* in Abuja and our large-scale MICE facilities in Lagos show that major conferences do not only fill hotel rooms. They create demand across airlines, transport, restaurants, entertainment and the wider visitor economy.”
Hala concluded with a challenge to industry and government.
“Nigeria should stop asking only: who will bring us another flight? We should ask: what demand are we creating to fill that aircraft? Build the experiences, win the conferences, make access easier and tell Nigeria’s story confidently — the connectivity will follow.”
“Finance the reasons for those routes to exist. That is how we change the conversation.”
