The role of tourism in the development of Nigeria

The shargon of tourerry in the exploitation of NigeriaIn discussing this, previous work conducted on similar investigate will be do will be made reference to. This include a research carried off by (Oji-Chukuwka, 2013) en actd Economic assumement of Nigeria-The Role of holidaymakerry.This admit was carried bulge out using structured questionnaire and establish on the notion that the federal government has heavily depended on agriculture and crude petroleum as the main stay of the Nigerian economy.As such, the researcher decided to be micturate out a research to unravel how well or otherwise the Ebonyi State touristry Board has contributed to the Nigerian economy through the advancement of its tourerry-related activities.The sideline were the objectives of the study1. If the Nigerian tourerry sphere of influence has met the objectives with which it was set up?2. If Governments interference in the activities of the Ebonyi State tourism mesa affects its performa nce in the long-run3. If Tourism has created equal parentage openings for totally classes of people.In another study, carried out in 2006, NolleOConnor examined how tv bring on touristry has influenced Ballykissangels Residential Community in the long run. Ballykissangel is the title of a BBC television drama that was shot in Ireland. It aired from 1996 to 2001 and had half dozen episodes.OConnor, simply desireed to find out if and how the decision to shoot the serial publication in the rural Irish suburb has affected the tourist inflow into the community. The purpose of the study, according to her, was to examine the influence of television induced touristry on asmall rural basedcommunityinIrelandandhowit toiletactuallyinfluencetourist development to adestination.Specifically, the researcher sought to find out the role of the television series in developing an area for touristry related activities.The case study chosen therefore for this research was Avoca, a small villa ge in County Wicklow, Ireland that was the setting for the filming ofthe BBCtelevision series Ballykissangel. The major(ip) data for the work were collected fromasystematic sample of residents of Avoca and through personal interviews.2.4. experimental LiteratureDuring the course of consulting other research works that are in line with my research, the different methodologies utilise proffered different findings and conclusions. These would be spunkylighted here as part of the empirical literature.The prototypal study, (Oji, Chukwuka, 2013,) discovered that the lukewarm and inadequate mount of the Ebonyi State tourism board was the one of the banes confronting the development of tourism in the state.Also, findings of his study revealed that the government were the major beneficiaries of the tax revenues derived from civil servants, visitors expenditure and tourism attraction.On the other hand, OConnor, discovered that alarge number of tourists were attracted toAvoca as due to th e feature that the indeed popular seriesBallykissangel was being shot in the locality. Today , tourism hasbecome Avocas most vitalindustriousness since the closure of its cooper mines. The residents pass also bring in that not only has this increased their earnings, it has attracted the world-wide attention to the once silence suburb. It has also created job opportunities for the locals whilst in fluiding a sense of pride for the natives of the community.With regards to the tourism forward motion, this study revealed that Television is currently the most potent of all media used in promoting tourism activities. In view of this, more consideration should be given to television as a medium of advertising. This may be because Television combines motion, sound, and special visual effects. The product can be present and described on TV. It also offers wide geographic coverage and flexibility as to when the message can be presented (Arens, 1996).2.5 .Other relevant literature2.5 .1 The record of the Nigerian Tourism IndustryNigeria currently boasts of an array of beautiful landmarks, frightening water-bodies which include the beaches, rainforests in the southern part of the country ,monuments, sites and sound, down to the roll out and bustle which is prevalent in the cosmopolitan cities like Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt. tout ensemble these have become particularly conducive and attractive for holidaying.Besides the tourist attractions, the culture, norms, artefacts, food, language, mode of dressing which all differ from one part of Nigeria to the other, have all contributed in making the country extremely unique in umteen ways. On many occasions, international tourists are in perplexity of the unique selling points of Nigeria despite the attendant issues like corruption and high poverty index.However according to (Uche, 2003) many of these attractions are largely still untapped notwithstanding the fact that they are largely exploited. They are savo ured by visitors either overflowing and in search of comingure, new terrains and exploits.One cannot process but mention around of these attractive tourist sites which Nigeria boasts of. They include the Yankari Games diffidence, Olumo Rock, Mabilla Plateau, Zuma Rock, Gashaka Games Reserve and of course the coastal beaches which are unique and enchanting.Tourism is relatively at an infancy wooden leg in Nigeria. This is more so because of the running disuse of the abundant resources naturally endowed on the country rather than the want of them. Nigerias rich ethnical diversity and tourist attractions are inexhaustible. asunder from Cultural sites and reserves which serve as potential tourist attractions, African countries like Nigeria have abundant cultural festivals that are very rich in mythology and diversity which can also be harnessed to set about revenue as well as serve as a means of creating some feeling of shared love and brotherhood among the motley ethnic group s in Nigeria. These festivals include the fishing and New Yam festivals famous in almost all the nooks and corners of the country at variant seasons of the year.The singularity of Nigerias tourism potentials have been confirmed and recognized by UNESCO, which has singled out the Sukur Kingdom in Adamawa State as a world inheritance site. Other unique sites also recognized include the Three Sisters Rock, Kamala Mountains, Obudu cattle Ranch, Lokoja Confluence, Osun Oshogbo Shrine, Gurara Waterfalls, Ikogosi Warm water springs, Oguta Lake, Kwa Waterfalls, Bwasu Hot water spring, Mboi pond, ancient natural and man-made caves and a host of other sites.Many years after the advent of television in Nigeria as well as the proliferation of private television stations across the country very little has been done to come along the tourism empyrean, which is a neglected goldmine, (Da Silva, 1999).However, despite the rich number of tourist sites and attractions in Nigeria, there have bee n a lot of impediments to the result of the sector. These impediments are numerous and include acute conditions of advanced fee fraud popularly called 419, underdevelopment and poverty as well as the growing level of incertificate-fuelled by the activities of the insurgent group, Boko Haram, which many potential Nigerian bound tourist many not like to be confronted with.A survey on tourist activities in different geographical areas of Africa shows that Nigeria is one of the least favourite destinations which by extension earn less income.However, in spite of the enormous tourism potentials in Nigeria, the investigation shows that tourisms contribution to economic development in Nigeria leaves ofttimes to be desired, (Ovat, 2003).Sensing the impediments to the offshoot of the tourism sector and realising the important role that tourism can play in the economic and national development of Nigeria, led to the establishment of the National Tourism Policy. (Da, Silva, 1999) says the n ational tourism insurance policy prescribes various ways of promoting the development of tourism in Nigeria through the following waysIncrease the flow of foreign exchange through the promotion of international tourismEncourage even development of tourism based enterprises.Accelerate rural/urban integrationFoster socio-cultural unity among the various groups in the country through the promotion of domestic tourism progress and encouragement of active private sector participationPreservation of our cultural heritage and historical monumentsMassive and aggressive publicity campaign to help oneself the growth and development of tourismSimplify the issuance of visas to intending visitors.Re-orientation for all security agencies including customs and immigrations,( Da, Silva,1999)While all these promises are okay, revenue from tourism sector has not been encouraging. A careful study of tourism statistics and data reveals that Nigeria in particular is one of the least favourite destinat ion in the world, this by extension results in a colossal loss of revenue with untold hardship and effect on Nigerias gross domestic products , (Uche, 2003).On the other hand strongly believes that the Nigerian coastal waters and beaches are dirty and therefore unattractive to tourist.The negative publicity launched by the international media against Nigeria has also affected the tourist traffic in the country with (Nnadozie, 2007) identifying some of the problems affecting tourism development in Nigeria as follows -Governments insouciant approach to the tourism industry -The scourge of political instability which encourages wastage and myopic resource management -Lack of foresight on the part of the elite who surmount virtually every sector of the economy. -Inadequate enlightenment and improper coverage of the tourism sector by the mass-media.Nigeria also has key rivals in the tourism industry namely Ghana, The Gambia, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Mauritania. These co untries have a better and more actual tourism industries in terms of infrastructure, maintenance, security and enlightenment. Another impediment to the growth of tourism in Nigeria is the general belief and habit of excessively write anything western, despite our rich cultural heritage and tourism potentials.It therefore becomes imperative mood therefore to blame our artists and media practitioners for failing to portray our rich cultural and tourism potentials to the outside world. They often love to portray the culture of the foreigner to the foreigner, they want to speak and dress like them. They want to belong to their kind of caucus, but they are nothing near them. The end result except is that they have made themselves copy-cats, rather than portraying have their own culture, ( Adekeye, 2007).However in the words of (Nasco, 1986), in this day and age when no country including ours, cant afford to solely depend on the fluctuating oil market as the primary source of revenue , tourism, my dear friends is indeed an pick for the mobilization of the much needed foreign exchange and local revenue.The Nigerian Tourism Development Commission, NTDC, traces the advent of tourism in Nigeria back to 1472 with the first Portuguese mercantile mission-trade tourism.However, the first attempt at structuring Tourism in Nigeria came about in 1962 when a group of Nigerians with interest in and cargo to the promotion of tourism set up a body then known as Nigerian Tourism Association (NTA).Prior to the mental institution of the Department of Tourism in the former federal official Ministry of Trade and Tourism in January 1990, very little or no attention was paid to the development of the sector.However, following the approval for the establishment of the department, a federal bureau was also created to champion the promotion and development of tourism in Nigeria.In the last few years, the Nigerian government has put in a lot of effort aimed at reviving and improving the tourism sector. In an attempt to explore other aspects of the Nigerian economy, economy with an emphasis on the tourism sector, the federal government took some concrete steps at ensuring the development of the culture, travel and tourism industries. They comprised of inauguration of the Presidential Council on Tourism, Federal Ministry ofTourism and its Departments and Agencies with same at the States level and Local Tourism Committees which falls in line with the provisions of the National Tourism Policy (NTP) of2005, the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) of 1992 and the Nigeria Tourism Development Master Plan of 2006. rearward in January 2003, President Olusegun Obasanjo, approved the sum of $548 million as let to the transport, culture and tourism ministries for tourism master plan projects Udeorah, (2004).Primarily, this amount was earmarked to develop transportation, infrastructure, tourist sites, mobilization and public enlightenment towards accelerated to urism development. It is however evident that there is need for the mass media albeit television, to complement governments effort at tourism development and promotion.Nigeria, with its population and array of tourist attractions and sites is yet to tap into this goldmine as a result of the shortage of tourism programmes on TV stations.Today, the apathy towards tourism, confronts broadcast stations in the country despite the abundance of tourism contents which can be explored to any capacity.The urgency to nurture, promote and sustain the Nigerian tourism sector cannot be over emphasized and can therefore not be overlooked, (Udeorah, 2004)The Nigerian tourism sector is still at an infantile stage amidst the abundant natural human and natural resources. Also, the infrastructures currently in manoeuver at the tourist sites and locations in Nigeria are nothing to write habitation about and consequently not make Nigeria the envy of other nations in this regard. When compared to count ries like The Gambia, South-Africa, France and Spain who already have advanced tourism industries, Nigeria does have a long way to go (Dantata, 2011).Speaking at the Nigerian Tourism Investors forum and exhibition in Abuja in May 2014, DirectorGeneral of the Nigerian Tourism Development Board, Sally Mbanefo, noted thattourism is Indeed a tool for national economic development. She said there are some(prenominal) international initiatives that have highlighted the potential of tourism to contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction, as well as to environmental protection, cultural preservation, and job creation .