Top Travel Trends in Nigeria (2019)

The year is beginning to shape up and many travel enthusiasts are gearing up for another year of adventure. In the last two years, we’ve seen an increase in local tourism and travel within Africa. Destinations like Erin Ijesha and Kajuru Castle in Nigeria appeared to be favourites and we saw a steady increase in visits to ‘unconventional’ places like Rwanda and Morocco.

In 2019, we can expect this trend to continue with some variations. So, without further ado, here are my predictions for travel in the new year…

Slow Nigerian Travel in Q1

kajuru castle2019 is an election year in Nigeria and with the uncertainties that surround this season, we can expect to see a decline in Nigerian tours – especially across states, in the first quarter of the year. Once the elections are over and the dust begins to settle, tours within Nigeria will pick up again right around the Easter holidays.

Moremi Statue IfeIn terms of regions to visit, I think Western Nigeria will still get most of the love this year. However, I have spoken to a few people who are looking to explore Northern Nigeria this year. I am also hoping to do the same after the elections. Luckily, my people at Unravelling Nigeria have a tour to Kano in August. I am looking forward to attending that.

Kano Tour from AbujaAnother trend we can expect to see is the rising focus on African travel and visa friendly destinations…

More Focus on African Travel & Visa Friendly Destinations

Namibia Travel with a Pen Cairo Egypt PyramidsThis year feels like another big year for travel within the continent. Namibia and Egypt seem to be the favourites for the year. It helps that the African Cup of Nations football tournament will be held in Egypt, so we can expect less stringent visa applications to the country and more visits.

I’m also happy to see that many Nigerian travellers are gradually putting visa struggle days behind us. I mean, it still is a struggle to get to certain places but thanks to companies like Naija Nomads, who are making efforts to take us to unconventional places, we’re having more unique (stress-free) options for travel.

Increase in Staycations & Weekenders

fes1octagon lodge karatuWho doesn’t love a good weekend stay? I think we can expect to see more of these in 2019. I’ve seen a number of new beach houses and relatively cheap hotel weekend stay pop up on my timeline and social media feeds recently.

My ad-hoc travel plans are also filled with a few of these. I’ll write a separate post about some of the places I plan to spend my weekends in. I hope you share yours with me in the comment section, so we can discover new places together…

We can also expect to see more visits to places that look good on Instagram…

‘Instagrammable’ Destinations

ChefchaouenIs this app changing the way we travel? 

Finally, destinations like the Benin Republic and Ghana saw an influx of Nigerian travel enthusiasts in the past two years. I think visits to the latter country may increase this year, while visits to Benin may decrease slightly…

More Visits to Ghana, Less Visits to Benin Republic

LomePendjariOf course, none of these is guaranteed to actually happen. I’m writing them based on intuition, social media trends I have observed and conversations with people in the Nigerian travel space. I’m excited to see how the travel year will eventually turn out to be. Hopefully, it would be even more exciting than in the past years.

Top Travel Trends 2019

What are your predictions for the year? What places are you looking to explore? 

4 comments

  1. These are interesting predictions. I love that Ghana is getting a lot of love because as you might have heard it is “The Year of the Return to Ghana 2019” as declared by their President. So, I forsee that a lot of people from the diaspora will be flocking to Ghana this year. – https://jamilakyari.com

    1. Oh I didn’t hear about that but that’s very interesting to know. Ghana is definitely doing something right with regards to tourism.

  2. Great post and I agree with most of your predictions. Its interesting that you noted the elections and I can see how that might impact travels this year. But as always, a lot of people are enthusiastic about travel this year and I see the continent getting more love this year. Looking forward to seeing (and reading) all your adventures this year.

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At 4pm, when I visited, the themed gardens were sparsely populated. Coming from Japan, where many beautiful places are often filled with tourists, this was a pleasant surprise! 🌼

I visited in spring and caught the last of cherry blossom petals on the trees but it was really the tulips 🌷 that took the spotlight. I explored various themed gardens and my favourite were the Korean and Netherlands Gardens.

Overall, this place was an absolute delight! I definitely recommend a visit if you're in the area!
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