NIGERIAN TOURISM IN INDUSTRY A KEY VALUE DRIVER IN EMPLOYMENT GENERATION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Every tourist is different. Every tourist feels attracted by different tourist destinations, likes to engage in different activities while on vacation, makes use of different entertainment facilities and complains about different aspects of their vacation (Dolnicar, 2008). Tourism over the years has proven to be a strong resilient economic activity and a fundamental contributor to economic growth of nations by generating billions of dollars in exports and creating millions of jobs (Yusuff and Akinde, 2015).
Tourism helps to balance regional equalities and has been an integral part of developmental policy and economic strategy in many countries (Sharpley, 1999). To bolster economic development, tourism make a major contribution to the income of the destination areas, creates employment opportunities, supports diverse range of industries, helps to diverse local economies and support existing infrastructure and help fund the development of new infrastructure (Shone, 2008). The downturn in nation’s economies has made government to turn to tourism to stimulate development. This has resulted to overinvestment in infrastructure such as accommodation and scramble for profits by locals (Steinmetz, 2010).
According to the UN World Tourism Organization, UNWTO (2014): “Over the last decade, tourism, spurred by foreign direct investment, has evolved into a key economic driver for many destinations, promoting income growth and job creation in local economies. While global tourism has grown rapidly, there is tremendous future potential: international tourist arrivals worldwide are projected to increase about 70% between 2013 and 2030, reaching 1.8 billion.”
The Travel and Tourism Economic Impact (2014) asserts “Tourism currently accounts for nearly 9.5% of the worldwide GDP and is projected to increase to 10.3% by 2024.”
The EY Global hospitality insights – Top thoughts for 2015 opined that the hospitality and tourism sectors have emerged as key value drivers and differentiators in a competitive economy, including in emerging economies, where growth has shifted away from goods and products toward services, with tourism and hospitality accounting for a significant portion.
pitality accounting for a significant portion. In the Guaranty Trust Bank report, Nigeria: From Tourism to Economic Growth (2017), “the total contribution of travel and tourism to the global economy was estimated at $7.6 trillion in 2016, around 10 percent of the global GDP of $75.6 trillion. In Nigeria, the contribution of the tourism industry is estimated at around $1.5 billion, figures that are not only a tiny fraction of the global industry but also demonstrate the gulf between the present reality and the potential of tourism for Nigeria.”
The UNWTO (2016) postulated that tourism grew at around 4% per year for seven straight years and that international tourist arrivals reached 1.2 billion in 2016, presenting a sequence of uninterrupted growth not recorded since the 1960’s with the strongest growth recorded for Africa, Asia and the Pacific regions.
In terms of absolute figures, international tourist arrivals rose marginally in 2001 from 850,000 to 1,550,000 in 2010 and fell down to 486,000 in 2012. This reduction was attributed to the Boko Haram insurgency in northern part of Nigeria. However tourism activities picked up in 2013 with 23 per cent increase over the previous year arrivals (Yusuff and Akinde, 2015).
The ability of a nation to compete in the tourism industry depends largely on the quality and prices of the facilities and services. The services being offered must be commensurate with or higher than other countries tourism areas and meet the standards and expectations of the tourists. There must be availability of good water supply, stable electricity, clean restaurants, and good sanitation facilities.
