ADEYEMO,
A.
Department of Urban and Regional Planning,
Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
AKINBODE,
T.
Department of Urban and Regional
Planning,
Federal University of Technology,
Akure, Nigeria
BADA, Afolabi O.
Department of Urban and Regional Planning,
Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
The
current economic recession in Nigeria has come down heavily on the nation’s
economy in no small way. Even though crude oil still remain the mainstay of the
nation’s economy, diversification of economy and exploitation of potentials of
tourism resources are seen as a panacea to the current economic meltdown in the
country. This paper therefore identified various tourism potentials and resources
readily available in the country. This ranges from water tourism resources,
vegetal tourism resources to land scape tourism resources and anthropogenic cultural
tourism resources. The authors observed that tourism planning and development
in Nigeria is under- exploited despite the enormous potentials. Thus, the paper
suggests strategies to adopt by the government, private sector, host
communities as well as workers in the tourism industry to alleviate the poor
state of tourist centres in Nigeria. The paper concludes that the tourism
sector has very huge potentials which if fully supported and the menace of
terrorism and kidnapping is curtailed in Nigeria, will contribute significantly
to the economic diversification everybody is yarning for and Nigeria will
bounce back from the two edged sword of economic meltdown ravaging the country.
Keywords: Economic recession, Economic
diversification, Tourism development, Public-Private partnership
INTRODUCTION
The national economic recession currently being
experienced by Nigerians came at a time when democracy is gaining momentum in
the history of the country. In Nigeria unlike some African countries, crude oil
including its derivatives, had been and may remain a prominent feature of Nigeria’s
external sector; and by implication , the pivot through which the nation’s
economy revolves. The fact that the demand for the nation’s crude oil by the
USA and other trade partners has drastically reduced and the sharp fall in the
price of the commodity at the World market has ploughed Nigeria economy into
serious mess, it is pertinent that the government and other stakeholders should
start looking at other possibilities to bring the country out of the present
situation.
It is disheartening to hear that a country noted for her
leading role in oil production and exportation in the continent of Africa
suddenly became broke the government now goes around begging for grants and
loans from foreign countries to finance her budget. As that was not enough, the
country considered selling her national heritages just to remain float while
over thirty million Nigerians are unemployed and more than two million lost
their jobs owing to the economic meltdown ravaging the country. It is now a
must for Nigeria to diversify her economy and venture into other resources that
would miraculously boost her ailing economy if Nigeria does not want to be once
upon a time in the corridor of nations. For this not to happen, the authors
explored the world of tourism which is the world’s largest export earner and is
considered by many to be the largest industry according to WTO, (2004) as the
best compliment of oil exploration in Nigeria.
Tourism according to WTO (2009) comprises the activities
of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environ or
not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes.
Paul (2000) defined tourism as recreation activities requiring at least one
night’s stay away from home following a recreational interest. To him, tourism
involves the movement of tourists from a generating region to a destination
region for the purpose of adventure or relaxation. Tourism as defined by
Ibimilua (2009) involves the movement and stay of foreigners inside and outside
a city or region, provided the journey and stay of the stranger is not
connected with remunerative activities. Despite little variation in the
aforementioned definitions of tourism, the bottom line remains that tourists
especially the foreigners would have to contribute positively to the economy of
their hosting communities since monies will exchange hands.
It is no more news that tourism has been a major
generator of economic wealth for developed nations like UK, USA, Italy, Japan,
China and the UAE. Today, African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania Mauritius,
Egypt and Botswana are reaping the socio-economic and psychological benefits
that are associated with tourism planning and development. Rural communities in
Nigeria house some distinctive peculiarities which can be transformed into
attractive tourist centres likewise the existing centre have been neglected as
a result of the country’s over reliance on crude oil (Jiboku et al 2010). To
worsen the situation in Nigeria, notable personalities in the country such as
Politicians, Government officials, Academicians and Business executives’ jet
out of the country at will to visit tourist centres in foreign countries all
over the world at the detriment of their own neglected and or poorly developed
ones. The country side in Nigeria
possesses considerable potentials for the development of tourist attractions.
This is because it is in such an area that the native and the cultural heritage
have been less disturbed compared to an urban setting (Paul 2000). Other things
being equal, the degree of availability of such tourist resources in any given
country will depend on the extent of her rurality because beautiful natural
sceneries as well as cultural artifacts are far more available in the rural
than in urban areas. The less developed countries much more than the developed
ones therefore posses more of the potentials for the development of rural
tourism.
Nigeria, being a developing nation is still predominantly
rural and so much diverse both in ecology and culture. The many ecological
zones present a not- so-common opportunity for the development of various
natured-based tourist attractions. Similarly, the multiplicity of culture in
the country provides a good setting for the evolution of various cultural
heritage based tourist facilities. Given this background, this paper examines
the emergent trend in the development of rural and urban tourism resources to
jet Nigeria out of her present economic wood.
Motivation
for this Study
In Nigeria today, all the states of the federation are
financially sick and nearing being grounded. Most state governors owe workers
up to a whole year salary arrears. Industrial actions are no longer strange to
these governors because of their over-reliance on the monthly allocation from
Abuja which has drastically reduced. The acute fall in the price of crude oil
in the world market couple with pipeline vandalization in the Niger-delta area
has incapacitated the Federal Government to discharge her financial
responsibility to all categories of its workers. Government is in huge foreign
debts and still wants to borrow about $30 billion to finance her annual budget.
The country’s economy may collapse completely if this trend continues and to
avert what happened to Ghana’s economy in the early 80s in Nigeria,
diversification of Nigeria economy to tourism and agriculture is therefore
advocated by the authors.
Tourism has grown
rapidly to become one of the world’s foremost economic phenomena. The WTO in
the year 2000 estimates that international tourist arrivals in 2020 will reach
1.6 billion worldwide and tourism receipts will exceed 2 trillion US dollar.
Since most tourist centres worldwide are found in the rural communities and
about 60% of international tourists can be considered as nature-based tourists.
A study carried out by the World Resources Institute in 2000 also claimed that
this type of tourism is increasing at an annual rate of 10% to 30% and will
continue to play an important role in international tourism (Reingold, 1993).
Tourism
Resources and Potentials in Nigeria
Nigeria tourism resources are diverse and largely
unexplored. Adejuwon (1993) categorized tourism resources into two; they are
natural tourism resources otherwise known as nature-based tourism resources and
anthropogenic cultural tourism resources’ as earlier mentioned, substantial numbers
of natural tourism resources in Nigeria are located in the rural areas while
some of the anthropogenic ones are in the towns and cities.
This section of the paper
will therefore identify and assess the tourism resources and their potentials
towards solving the economic crisis in Nigeria. The tern nature-based tourism
is generally applied to tourism activities depending on the use of natural resources
which remain in a relatively undisturbed state, including scenery, topography,
waterways, vegetation, wildlife, and cultural heritage (Ceballos-Lascurain,
1996). These and many more shall be discussed here under.
Water Tourism Resources
These are tourism associated with water bodies, moving
water and water relief such as lakes, rivers and oceans. Nigeria is
blessed with an 800km coastline stretching from Badagry in the west to Calabar
in the east. The beaches along this coastline which are low lying with maximum
elevation of 3m above sea level are surf beaten and present excellent sites of
beauty for beach resorts. Beaches all over the world especially in the advanced
countries are well developed for tourist resorts. However, beach resort
industry in Nigeria is still in its infancy. The Bar-beach, Lekki beach and
Badagry beach in Lagos have been the most frequently visited beaches compare
with those along eastern Mediterranean coast. The Araromi sea-side beach in
Ilaje Local Government area of Ondo State and many others along the coast
remain undeveloped or underdeveloped.
With the oil slump now, water tourism could be explored
as a source of earning for the country. Since Nigeria is blessed with vast and
naturally beautiful beaches, the development of coastal beaches could attract
foreign and local tourists. Springs such as Ikogosi Warm and cold springs in
Ekiti State and Wikki warm spring in Bauchi State as well as water falls in
Erin-Ijesha water fall in Osun State, Ipole-Iloro water fall in Ekiti State and
Asop water fall near Jos in Plateau State should also be commercialized and
privatized for the betterment of the nation’s economy. The Ikogosi warm and
cold springs flow side by side and come to a meeting point, and flow onward
together with each spring retaining its thermal identity represents uniqueness
and misery and is the first of such occurrence in the world. The warm spring
according to Kukoyi et. al (2013), has a temperature of up to 700C
Celsius at the source and 370C Celsius after meeting the cold
spring. The meeting point of the two springs is a unique attraction to
tourists. The spring sprout out and flow with a constant temperature and volume
up to 150 litres/second every day, all seasons, all year round. Another unique
quality of the springs is its acclaimed curative power. It is widely believed
to have some kind of therapeutic effects which relieves body aches, heal water
borne diseases and all sorts of ailments. This site will certainly for a long
time attract tourists especially foreigners which will in turn the ailing
economy.All natural and artificial lakes, confluence, river ports, river banks
and delta all over Nigeria should be developed to international standard to
attract visitors.
Vegetal
Tourism Resources
The idea behind the establishment of the initial National
parks and game reserves in Nigeria was to protect and ensure the survival of
wildlife and their habitats. Although, the system of parks and game reserves
may still be to some extent in its infancy, the current need for tourism
development to earn foreign exchange should be built into the operation of many
of these areas. Nigeria is abundantly enriched with forest/game reserves,
almost evenly spread across the country. There are about 840 forest/game
reserves in Nigeria (Onokerhoraye, 1985), although, less than 10% are actually
developed. The first game reserve was established in Yankari, Bauchi State in
January 1956 which covers 2244sq/km of savanna woodland. It is now well stocked
with wild animals like Elephants, Hippos, Leopards, water-bucks, Buffaloes,
Antelopes, Baboons, Monkeys, Lions, Hyenas, Gazelles and a wide variety of
birds (Emielu, 1996). Another attraction of the game reserve is that it has a
warm spring –‘Wikki warm spring’ which is usually used as a swimming pool.
Today, there are national parks in Oyo, Kainji, Okonu, Oban and Abuja and
scores of other game reserves all over the country.
The Kainji lake National park, which is made up of Bargu
game reserve with an area of 3970sq/km and the 1370sq/km Zugurma game reserve
in Niger State also has a large variety of stock. These include among others,
Buffaloes, Leopards, Lions, Hyenas, Elephants, Baboons, Monkeys, Hippopotamus, and
Manatees. During the dry season, the Oli river breaks into pools constitutes
the main grounds for sports fishing. River Oli in Bargu sector and Manyara
River in Zurguma sector of the park provide very good grounds for sports
fishing all the year round. The Kainji Lake is 136 km long and 25 km at its
widest point bringing the total area to about1270sq/km (Ajayi et al, 1982). The
park operates an all year round cruise on lake Kainji which offers unique
opportunities of viewing local and migratory birdlife and reptiles on the lake.
Visitors to the lake Kainji National park will be opportune to enjoy a
conducted tour of the nation’s premier Hydro-Electric Power Generating complex
at the Kaiji dam. There are also a number of historic sites to be seen in the
park.
Old Oyo National park formerly named Upper Ogun Games
Reserve is located in Ifedapo Local Government Area of Oyo State. The park if
well developed according to Afolayan, (1987), is capable of attracting visitors
from all over the world because of its uniqueness. The park was formed from the
Upper Ogun River and Old Oyo forest reserve established in 1936. It was changed
to Old Oyo national park in 1988. Historically, the park was is located in an
area which was the nerve centre of the Old Oyo Empire. The ruins of the capital
– Oyo-Ile still exists within the park, constituting a high reserve of central
materials to Historians and archeologists.
The National park is endowed with a diversity of animal
species. The following mammalian fauna have been documented by Ayodele, (1988)
and may be conspicuously observed in the park. Baboons, Buffaloes, Bush-buck,
Caracel, Civet, Elephants Genet, Hunting dog, Kob,Monkey and White-tailed
Mongoose. The commonly observed birds are; Black kite, Cattle Egret,
Doublesperres, Green Pigeon and Green backed eremomela, Grey hornbill,
Guinea-fowl, Long crested hawk eagle, langhing dove, Purple heron and Osprey.
Nile crocodile, Nile monitor lizard, Hinged, Tortoise, Black cobra, Rock
python, Royal python, Agama lizard and chameleon are among the reptiles
commonly found in the park.
The advantages of preserving our natural environment in
the form national parks and Game reserves are obvious. First, well developed
National park backed with adequate publicity will no doubt encourage the influx
of both local and foreign tourists to such areas. Also, a well developed and
functional park will encourage business- oriented people in such localities to
invest in other revenue generating ventures which will further boost the local
economy in particular and the country in general. National park organization
and management according to Ayodele (1988) had performed wonders in boosting
the economy of east and North African countries. Nigeria too would benefit
immensely from nature preservation and tourism, given her diverse ecological
zones, plants and animal species.
Forest
Reserves/Forest Plantation
Forest reserves are the area of land where varieties of
three species are planted in large numbers and there harvesting are strictly
controlled by the government. They are different from the ‘open’ forests which
are not controlled. Threes play an important role in the lives of human being.
In rural environments, forestry is one of the few rural activities which can be
successfully integrated with agriculture, wildlife conservation and water resources
development. They are thus potentials avenues for recreation, leisure and
tourism (Areola, 1996, Onokerhoraye, 1985).
Just as it was observed in game reserves earlier in this
paper, one of the attractions of forest reserves is in the appreciation of the
beauty of nature. The attraction normally arises because much of the forest
being virgin, there is possibility of seeing and admiring unique plants and
threes. The reserves and plantations also provide a good setting for camping.
Forest reserves unlike game reserves are wildly spread across all the thirty
six states of the federation and in all the ecological zones of the country.
The number of forest reserves in Nigeria was rapidly increased between 1900 and
1980 bringing its total to 936 at the end of 1980 (Afolayan 1987). While the
first forest reserve was established in 1900 at Olokemeji in Oyo State, the
largest number today is in Bornu State while Lagos State with only one has the
smallest. There is no doubt that there is a relationship between population
pressure on land and the extensiveness of forest reserves.
Landscape
Tourism Resources
These tourism resources are related to the unique
topographical structure of many areas in Nigeria as a result of morphological
formation and geomorphological processes. These special resources are found
virtually in all the thirty six states in Nigeria and Abuja, the Federal
Capital Territory. Examples of such resources in Nigeria include ; Idanre and
Oke Maria hills in Ondo State, Somorika
hill in Edo State, Olosunta hills and
Orole Inselberg in Ikere Ekiti and particularly Efon Alaaye hills which are the
watershed of Rivers Oni, Olua and Owena. There is Esa cave in Iyin Ekiti which
has the capacity for over 600 people and Ogbunike cave near Onitsha in Anambra
State, the Olumo rock in Ogun State, Zuma rock in Abuja, Obudu cattle ranch in
Cross River State and the Mambila Plateau which has an attractive cool
temperate environment. Riyom Share hills on the top of Jos Plateau which happen
to be the highest points in Nigeria. Unfortunately, most of these tourism
resources mentioned above are vastly underdeveloped and untapped.
Sport
Tourism Resources
Nigeria should use sport tourism potentials to generate
huge amount of money. It has been discovered that the developed countries such
as the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany and France generate billions of dollar monthly
from stadium gate fees, television rights, taxes from players, coaches, and
other workers in the sport related activities. There are stadia built across
the federation and if regional stadia are built across the six geo-political zones
of the country would help Nigeria bid for FIFA and other international
tournaments as it is being done by South Africa Brazil, USA and other European
countries earlier mentioned. The huge population of the country compared with
other African countries should be utilized in sport tourism by sensitizing and
encouraging the citizens to visit stadia across the nation and watch sporting
activities. This will not only generate huge amount of money to the government
but will also elongate the life span of the citizenry. Sport tourism provides
opportunity for relaxation and aids physical and mental health of human body.
Cultural
Tourism Resources
Nigeria is greatly endowed with varying cultural
practices and festivals across each state of the federation. Countries with heterogeneous
culture and promoted festivals such as Brazil, Cuba, India, China and Japan
have benefited tremendously from showcasing their rich cultures and heritages.
Annually, millions of cultural tourists visit these and other countries to
observe and or participate in cultural festivals, rituals and games (Akintola
and Areola 1982). This type of tourism has provided platform to attract
foreigners to spend their money in the visited countries which has had ripple
effects on the host nations’ economies.
There are hundreds of cultural festivals, carnivals,
annual tribal rituals, cultural games and traditional celebrations in Nigeria
which when properly developed and publicized would be quite ready to become a Mecca
of sorts to all lovers of culture, nature and leisure. Examples include; Eyo
festival in Lagos State, Osun –Osogbo festival in Osun State, Abuja,
Cross-River and Port-Harcourt anuall carnivals. Others are Argungu fishing
festival on the river Sokoto, Olojo festival in Ile-Ife, Udi-iroko festival in
Ado-Ekiti and Ogun Festival in Ondo city and Ikere-Ekiti. All these remain
either underdeveloped or underutilized in nigeria despite being potential
destinations if rural tourism potentials are properly harnessed, packaged and
promoted.
Other
Areas for Tourism Attention
Palaces:
Nigeria is also blessed with a lot of Obas’ palaces which should interest both
local and foreign tourists. The preservation of palaces like that of Alaafin of
Oyo, Ooni of Ife, Sultan of Sokoto, Emir of Kano, Ewi of Ado-Ekiti and that of
Oba of Benin will serve as historical landmarks that can provide the
educational need of the tourists as well as presenting the diverse
socio-cultural settings our great nation.
Burial
grounds: There are quite a lot of eminent graves in Nigeria
that can serve as tourist centres . For example, the myth surrounding the grave
of Birikisu Sugbo in Ijebu-Ode area in Ogun state is that the Queen of Shebba
died on that spot. We have the memorable graves of Chief Obafemi Awolowo at
Ikenne in Ogun State, Tafawa Balewa tomb in Bauchi, Fela Anikulapo Kuti in
Lagos. Lt. coronel Adekunle Fajuyi and Adunni Olayinka Tombs are also in Ekiti State. We also have
the burial grounds of some past prominent traditional and spiritual leaders
such as Alaafin of Oyo, Ooni of Ife, Nnamdi Azikwe popularly called ‘Zik of
Africa’ and pastor Ayo Babalola, a renowned world evangelist. All these and
many more tombs in Nigeria are capable of attracting tourists.
Venerated
trees and gods: Certain venerated trees are found
scattered in the country. The spiritual significance of such trees and gods
such as Osanyin and Ifa oracle lies in the ability to forecast present and
future occurrences as well as revealing past hidden occurrences. They are
capable of accurate predictions and forecasting of football match results as it
was done by the German’s Octopus in 2010
FIFA world cup tournament held in South Africa. The venerated trees that
readily come to mind include the Ore tree in Ile-Ogbo close to Owo in Ondo
State and Oju Olobun tree in Lagos. There is the need to preserve these
super-natural gods and trees so that they do not fall off like did the trees
under which the first set of missionary deliberated in Badagry area of Lagos
State. These trees and others will definitely provide a kind of tourist
attraction for the young generation whose faith and exposition may find the
sight of such monument very interesting their preservation will also preserve
the potency of supernatural forces and African beliefs before the advent of
western religion.
Museums
and
other historical architectural and modern landmarks in Lagos, Abuja, Benin,
Ile-Ife, Oyo, Owo and Kaduna will definitely attract local and foreign tourists
if they are well managed and maintained.
Strategies
to Improve Tourism Centres in Nigeria
Tourism is of central importance to social, cultural and
economic lives in the twenty-first century. Going by the tourism potentials of
the country, it is crystal clear that tourism remains a most viable foreign
exchange earner for Nigeria and will help in creating employment opportunities
for many Nigerians and expatriates. Tourism according to Awartete (2005),
Ogunboye et al (2008), Dimoska (2008) and Ekechukwu (2010) has been reported to
be a major resource and foreign exchange earner, indeed the second single item
after crude oil in world trade. Thus, in order to get Nigeria out of her
present ocean of economic recession and to reduce our overdependence on crude
oil as the mainstay of the economy, the two actors i.e. government and the
private sector should established a roadmap strategy capable of doing the
magic. The authors therefore suggest the following strategies among others as
the panacea to the economic melt-down currently ravaging the nation.
The three tiers of government in nigeria should undertake
an inventory and identify all the existing and potential tourism resources of
the country for further development. One major challenge in planning in Nigeria
is the paucity of data Awaritete, (2005). In Panning, development and
redevelopment of tourist sites in Nigeria, there should be a specific focus on
sustaining both the rudimentary nature of tourist activities as well as the
possible advantages of it. Government should therefore provide a sustainable
and conducive environment for tourism investment to strive by facilitating,
promoting and coordinating partnership with the private sector for tourism
development. Mc William (2007) states that for tourism to actually generate the
potential revenue there is need for partnership between private and public
sector operating in the area. It is therefore expedient for government for
government to leverage the private sector expertise in evolving a pragmatic
change in the tourism industry. The era where each state government has its own
politically motivated tourism agenda should be done away with.
Government should do the needful for tourism promotion
and awareness. The foreign missions should be at the head of Nigeria’s tourism
promotion internationally. This could be done by re-organizing ‘Know Nigeria’
exhibitions and programmes which would be geared towards educating the world on
the warmth and hospitality of the Nigerian people and the abundance of tourist
sites. Also, the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) needs to be
strengthened so that Nigeria can evolve a national policy on tourism and rural
development that would harmonize divergent efforts of local and state
governments. With this, all willing investors will only take directive from one
central body even though the tourist attraction centres are scattered all over
the country.
As observed by Ozgen (2003), the local residents have the
capacity to positively influence the outcome of tourism developments in their
communities. They can be active drivers of change and promotion; being the
immediate members of the community, there is a need to ensure that they accept
the development, in this way, there will be a sense of belonging on the part of
the locals. This will in turn give them the feeling that the success or
otherwise of the development is their collective business. Community engagement
and impact of development must be given high cognizance as lack of community
acceptance will have adverse on any development. Government should therefore
facilitate regrouping of villages through the creation of central market, town
and tourist centres in specific parts of rural landscape. This will be a source
of opening up the rural areas which will balance tourist demand, local human,
cultural and natural resources.
Unawareness of tourist sites and the lackadaisical
attitude of locals to the centres within their community have shown that there
is need for conceited efforts on the part of tourism regeneration planners and
local development officials to engage with the local communities in order to
promote tourism at community levels. Tourism industry according to Ibimilua
(2009) is capable to employ millions of Nigerian while over $ 150 billion
annual earnings is being targeted from tourism industry alone worldwide. It is
indeed disheartening and comes as a surprise that Ayodele et al survey carried out
in 1990 revealed the following; only 55% of Nigerians were aware of tourist
destinations in their area, out of this figure, 46% of them were academics from
higher institution of learning; a negligible 5.8% and 2.3% were among civil servant and business
executives respectively. This demonstrates a chronic case of unawareness and
seeming lack of interest at least on the part of the respondents.
Government urgently needs to work hard at reorientation
of Nigerians about the value of our local resources. There is urgent need for
integrated and holistic reorientation of all the stakeholders likewise to
adequate and attractive publicity in other to get the attention and patronage
of tourists. The authors therefore call on the National Orientation Agency
(NOA) to be at the forefront educating Nigerians on the potentials of tourism
as a huge source of massive foreign exchange
Development of infrastructures such as roads,
communication facilities, electricity, water, hotels and health safety
facilities should be properly developed and provided in manners that will
minimize the ecological footprints of tourism and to a standard that encourages
internal and international tourism. This is the only way the positive gains
from tourism can be maximized. The proportion of income that is lost in local
areas according to Porosser (2002) as leakages can be controlled. This requires
the understanding of the many ways that tourism can leak out of an economy
(Vaugeois, 2000) and allow for effective strategies that can be devised to
minimize it. Sedai (2006) stated that lack of proper infrastructures like
hotels, shopping and cultural activities is a major impediment to tourism
promotion. Easy access to tourism destinations through good road network is a
primary requirement of tourism attraction of a place, the urgent development of
excellent road network to the tourist destinations will help improve the
strength of the attraction. Infrastructure development should be given priority
in Nigeria. Government at all levels should therefore facilitate, promote and
coordinate resurgent partnership with the private sector to achieve this.
Effective
training and education should be provided by the government in order to create
professionalisms in the industry towards efficiency in service delivery.
Tertiary institutions should be encouraged to run undergraduate and
postgraduate programs in tourism and hospitality. This could be done by
awarding research grants and counterpart founding to the institutions. Training
and retraining as identified by Ekanayeke (2012) is a key factor to the success
of any organization. Current and future staff and workers of Nigeria tourism
and recreation centres must be provided with proper training in terms of
communicating, accommodating and service delivery to the visitors in order to
create visitor satisfaction especially the foreigners. The visitors should be
well briefed about the activities and services provided by the centres. They
could also be given relevant documentation regarding possible questions that
visitors may ask.
Finally, if the current security services provided by the
security agents are not improved upon in Nigeria, the fear of being killed by
the Boko-Haram insurgents in the north, kidnapping for ransom by the
Niger-delta militants in the south as well as abduction of people for ritual
activities in the west may keep foreign tourists away from Nigeria and also
keep all the aforementioned recommendations permanently in a refrigerated cooler
for decades. We hereby call on all the concerned authorities to beef up
security in the country so as to achieve the objectives of this paper.
Conclusion
Tourism today globally has become a major source and
weapon of economic diversification for many countries, underpinning the service
sector and forging effective backward and forward linkages with the rest of the
economy allowing new employment and income earning opportunities. Nigeria remains
a land of stupendous potentials and what the government needs to do is to get
its heart together and do the needful. The need for economic diversification is
now and overwhelming because of her defining mono-cultural economic
characteristics where only one commodity dominates export and provides the bulk
of foreign exchange.
At this juncture, it is quite expedient to engage the
private sector in the reorganization of tourism industry in Nigeria. Huge funds
need to be injected into the industry by the government and provide a level
playing field for potential investors. It is hoped that if government
vigorously deal with the menace of terrorism (enflamed by the Boko-Haram sect
and Niger-delta militants), the adoption of the strategies for tourism
development in Nigeria as a way of economic diversification will definitely
rescue the country from the woods of the ongoing economic meltdown.
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