Head, Tourism Department, Sterling Bank, Mrs Abiola Adelana, says the bank has mapped out an initiative that would help bridge the gap in the tourism space and create more value for tour operators.
Adelana made this known during the 17th AKWAABA Africa Travel and Tourism Market in Lagos on Monday.
She said that the bank initiative would also help to cushion the effect of COVID-19 since the tourism industry was seriously affected by the pandemic.
The official said that the bank would be giving out loans to practitioners in the travel and tourism industries, beginning from the first quarter of 2022.
” Our major aim is to bridge the gap in the tourism space, so we have travel loans for tour operators and company owners generally; our objective is to create more value for them.
” We understand that most people are restricted due to lack of funds; we are giving out this loan at a very reasonable interest rate from first quarter of 2022.
” We have studied the industry and have identified the needs, we want to create a product around purchase of travel buses and tour company owners will be able to pay in installments; this is among other products we have,” she said.
The official also disclosed that the bank would be creating an e-commerce platform where operators in the industry could come on board to access millions of customers. She added that financial solutions could be proffered to problems on the e-commerce platform. nan
