Domestic tourism in Nigeria: The Cities Quietly Leading the Rebound

For a decade, the story of Nigerian travel was mostly a story of leaving. Nigerians going abroad for holidays, for shopping, for medical trips, for weddings. Nigerians in the diaspora coming home briefly for Christmas. The idea of a Nigerian family choosing a weekend in Calabar over a trip to Dubai was, for many, unusual.
That is quietly beginning to change. A combination of tighter travel budgets, weaker foreign exchange rates, better local supply, and a new generation of Nigerian creators showcasing the country on TikTok has begun to shift the calculus. Domestic tourism, long the neglected cousin of outbound Nigerian travel, is starting to have a moment.
The numbers behind the shift...