Lufthansa Group brings direct payment option to check-in counters

Lufthansa Group brings direct payment option to the check-in counters and gates in Nigeria with card terminals

From June 2017 onwards, customers will be able to pay with Amadeus Airport Pay for ancillary services while checking in

Lufthansa will now enable secure and simple payments at the check-in counter in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, by introducing “Amadeus Airport Pay”. This new service, developed by Amadeus and Ingenico, will subsequently be available at more than 170 airports around the world. The customers will be able to pay for ancillary services, such as excess baggage, with chip-cards (credit/debit cards), girocard payments and compatible digital wallets.

“This direct-payment option will further improve the customer experience for our passengers in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt”, says Robin Sohdi, Lufthansa General Manager Nigeria.

Additionally, airline staff are able to initiate compensation payments with these terminals, for instance in case a passenger voluntary steps back from an overbooked flight.

“To bring secure and seamless payment options to our passengers to ease their individual and seamless travel experience is a core objective for the Lufthansa Group. Amadeus Airport Pay enables our travellers to choose customized ancillary services for their flight while checking in or at the gate – securely and with a variety of payment options, and without the need for detours”, said Kai Schilb, Head of Payment at Lufthansa Group Hub Airlines.

“Besides, as an IT solution, Amadeus Airport Pay gives the Lufthansa Group full control over its payment infrastructure by enabling bilateral connections with a wide range of payment providers. We look forward to bringing this service to our airport check-in desks and ticket offices in more than 170 airports very soon,” added Philipp Vetten, Head of IT Payment Projects at Lufthansa Group Hub Airlines.

The standard used by the Amadeus Airport Pay solution is also fully compatible with PCI-DSS, a series of security standards defined by the payment card industry. By using a PIN method for the cards, fraud is prevented during the payment process itself.

The Lufthansa Group strives to provide its customers with a range of choices in products and services fitted to their needs. In today’s digital world, customers demand simplicity and convenience throughout their purchasing experience, no matter what channel they use while shopping, whether it is web, mobile, or physical stores.      

Ethiopia aspires to boost foreign earnings from tourism, hospitality sector

Ethiopia is keen to boost foreign earnings from investments in the hospitality sector, according to the Ethiopian Tourism Organisation (ETO), on Thursday.

Hosting the 5th continental hotel show in its capital Addis Ababa, the east African country aimed to boost investments in the hospitality sector so as to generate additional foreign earnings.

According to the ETO, although the country is not currently satisfied with the number of visitors, it is hosting less than a million tourists annually.

The contribution of the hospitality sector to the country’s GDP is forecasted to have risen by 5 per cent to 3.7 billion U.S. dollars in the next 10 years, with an expected 2,422,000 jobs by 2026.

Yohannes Tilahun, Ethiopian Tourism Organisation CEO, said that the east African country has targeted the hospitality and tourism sector as its major priority intervention area together with the manufacturing industry.

The contribution of the hospitality and tourism sector, which is also an emerging source of employment, currently accounted for 4.1 per cent of Ethiopia’s GDP, according to Yohannes.

Despite Ethiopia’s push to boost its earnings from the sector, the country’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently revealed that the political unrest that broke out in 2016 had slightly affected tourism and hospitality services.

Organisers of the continental hotel show, Ozzie Hospitality and Tourism Group, also noted that Africa’s share from the global travel and tourism sector is insignificant given the continent’s potential in the sector.

“We have a lot of grounds to make before our region successfully builds a meaningful international presence,’’ said Kumneger Teketel, Group Managing Director of Ozzie.

Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria preps for 2017 AGM

Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria preps for 2017 AGM

The Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) has stepped up preparations for its 2017 Annual General Meeting (AGM), which is an elective one for the election of a new national executive council for the federation, which is the umbrella body of all tourism associations in the country.

Speaking on the meeting, which is scheduled to hold on 29 at NANET Suite, Abuja, at the Association of Nigerian Journalists and Writers of Tourism (ANJET) Media Forum, the President of the federation, Tomi Akingbogun, said it is going to be a milestone event in the annals of the federation and Nigeria tourism industry.

According to him, all the federating associations, including government officials and private operators in the allied industries are expected to attend the meeting with the theme: ‘Financing as a catalyst to a sustainable tourism development,’ with key speakers slated to address the issue of funding for tourism, which he said is the bane of developing and marketing the tourism industry.

Akingbogun, said he would used the occasion to give account of his leadership of the federation in the last four years having served two terms of two years each. He disclosed that a lot of achievements were recorded during these four years despite the challenges that the federation had to contend with.

Besides celebrating the milestones of his regime, he promised members an exciting and fulfilling time during the one day AGM with many activities line up, including set up a clear roadmap for the federation by raising the bar of tourism while promising a free and fair election.

U.S. Embassy Grant Trains Museum Curators on Preserving Nigeria’s Collections

On June 2, 2017, museum curators from across Nigeria completed a two-week workshop hosted by the National Museum in Jos, to improve the conditions of museum storage areas and access to Nigeria’s important collections. Supported through the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, the “RE-Org Nigeria: Saving Museum Collections” workshop included participants from ten national and two university museums.

A major highlight of the official closing ceremony of the workshop was the opening of a temporary exhibition, Hidden Treasures of Jos Museum, which features 19 never-before-seen objects from around Nigeria.

Speaking at the event, the U.S. Embassy Counselor for Public Affairs Mr. Aruna Amirthanayagam recalled that on February 12, 2017 the United States Embassy in Abuja announced a $116, 000 grant to RE-ORG Nigeria through the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation.

He said, “We are hopeful that this grant will help to enhance the knowledge of professionals in this field, improve the storage, display, and preservation of museum collections across Nigeria, preserve and promote Nigeria’s diversity, and reignite public interest in museums.”

U.S. Embassy Counselor for Public Affairs, Aruna Amirthanayagam, presenting a certificate of

completion to one of the workshop participants, watched by Professor Buratai, Dean, Faculty of Arts, representing the V.C. of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and Malam Yusuf Abdallah, Director General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM). Embassy Photo by Nengak Daniel Gondyi

With this training, the curators will return to their museums to begin implementing the RE-ORG methodology to improve collections storage and display as part of a saving Nigerian museum collections project.

RE-ORG Nigeria is the joint initiative of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, the Ahmadu Bello University, and the International Centre for the Study of the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), funded by the Embassy of the United States of America in Abuja.

The U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation supports projects in more than 100 developing countries around the world. Projects include the restoration of ancient and historic buildings, assessment and conservation of rare manuscripts and museum collections, preservation and protection of important archaeological sites, and the documentation of vanishing traditional craft techniques and indigenous languages.