Evaluating tourism resource areas in nigeria for development

37 Tourism Review, Vol 62, No 2/2007

O. D. Awaritefe: Evaluating Tourism Resource Areas in Nigeria for Development

The experience of countries where tourism

is well planned and developed suggest that

the tourism regions in a country do not

have similar potentials for development.

Greater emphasis is placed on some

tourism areas or regions in their location,

and in the types of resources they possess in

tourism planning and development in

countries with developed tourism

(Ankromah and Crompton, 2001; Nasar,

1983; McCleary, 2002).

Tourism studies in developing African

countries by the World Tourism Organisa￾tion, WTO, (1994); Dekadt (1999); Lea,

(1998); and Ojo (1983) revealed poor

tourism developments, and raised disturb￾ing questions on how potential tourists ac￾cess information on available destinations,

where destinations occur and what types of

attractions destinations offer.

These studies suggest the need for

tourism research in Africa to provide infor￾mation on the performance of destination

areas in terms of types of resources, where

tourists prefer, where there is a tourism po￾tential, and where there exists no meaning￾ful tourism potential. It is further opined in

these works that information on the com￾petitive strength of the various tourism re￾gions and their associated resources in

Africa are generally lacking, though they

are urgently required for tourism to be

properly planned, developed and marketed

to attract desired tourists markets. As Lind￾berge (1999) and Ashworth (1996) indicate,

knowledge of the location of the destina￾tions desired and the types of resources

cherished by tourists is vital in influencing

how fast tourism grows, and the magnitude

of economic, socio-cultural and environ￾mental benefits it generates.

Sadly, in Nigeria, as in many developing

African countries with ailing tourism indus￾tries, there is the general absence of valuable

information on the tourism areas and re￾sources to accord priority in tourism desti￾nation planning, development and market￾ing (World Tourism Organisation, WTO,

1994; Chokor, 1993). It is not yet clear from

tourism studies in Nigeria whether tourists

prefer cultural over natural destinations, as

the Federal Government of Nigeria has of￾ten advocated (Federal Government of Nige￾ria, 1990, 2001; and Ukpanan, 1993). Re￾search is yet to shed light on the competitive

strength of the various geographic or

tourism regions in Nigeria for attracting

tourists. The types of resources tourists val￾ue most in the various tourism regions of

Nigeria is still not yet clearly known. It is,

thus, with the aim of providing information

on the destination areas that are most val￾ued by tourists and the types of resources

that tourists associate with their priority

destinations in Nigeria that this study is un￾dertaken. Such information is significant in

order to identify the important tourism ar￾eas or regions and their associated resources

to accord priority in tourism development

in Nigeria. To attain its aim, the study has

Dr. Onome Daniel Awaritefe

Department of Geography

and Regional Planning,

Delta State University,

P. M. B. 1, Abraka.

E-Mail: [email protected]

The study examines the spatial pattern of 101 destinations considered important in Nigeria by tourists,

and categorised them into various grades, employing a questionnaire survey of 634 tourists randomly se￾lected from seven centres in Nigeria. A standard stanine rating scheme was used to evaluate the value of

the 101 destinations in Nigeria for attracting tourists. The study revealed eight tourism regions in Nige￾ria, with two regions, Lagos and Yankari/Jos/Abuja emerging as primary attractive tourism regions, and

four regions, the Western, Northeastern, Edo/Delta and North Central tourism regions emerging as sec￾ondary tourism regions. Destinations considered most important were mostly short distance or nearby,

and associated with both cultural and natural resources, especially wildlife/games and beaches/water ar￾eas. The study concludes with implications for destination planning, development and marketing.

Key words: Tourism resource areas, evaluating tourism development, tourism regions

Evaluating Tourism Resource Areas in Nigeria

for Development

ONOME DANIEL AWARITEFE

Abstract

1 Introduction

Tourism Review 2/07 19.09.2007 8:36 Uhr Seite 37