TOURISM IN NIGERIA

• Tourism can be defined as the process or act which involves people visiting places of interest where they can relax, derive pleasure and entertainment.
• Tourism is also the act of discovering the free gift of nature and how man prevents them from extinction.

The places where such people visits are called ‘’tourist or resort centres’’ while the person who visits such places is called a ‘’tourist’’.

 

FACTORS THAT FAVOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM IN NIGERIA

1. Availability of funds.
2. Easy means of communication and transportation.
3. Good accommodation such as hotels of international standard.
4. Beautiful highlands, rocks and beaches such as Zuma rocks, Olumo rocks, Bar beach, e.t.c.
5. Abundance of wildlife.
6. There should be a stable political atmosphere.
7. Abundance of wide space in order to allow people to move about whenever they come to visit the place.
8. Strategic positioning (a tourist centre is a thing or place that should be built where people will notice it.

 

MAJOR TOURIST CENTRES IN NIGERIA

1. The game reserves like the Yankari game reserves (Bauchi state), Borgu game reserves (Kwara state).
2. The Kainji Dam site in Kwara state (that is, Jebba).
3. The Bar beaches of Lagos, Lekki and Badagry.
4. The National Theatre in Lagos.
5. Some important five star Hotels like Sheraton Hotel (Lagos and Abuja), Nicon Noga Hotel in Abuja, Durban Hotel in Kaduna, Federal Palace Hotel in Lagos.
6. The Kura Fall in Jos.
7. The Zuma rocks (Suleja) and Olumo rocks (Ogun state).
8. The Museums in Lagos, Benin, Jos and Ife.
9. Some traditional places e.g Ife, Benin and Sokoto.
10. Some traditional festivals e.g Arugungun (Kebbi state), Ibo masquerades in Enugu.

 

IMPORTANCE OF TOURISM TO THE ECONOMY OF NIGERIA

1. Tourist centres serve as foreign exchange earners to the government, that is, the government earns money from it through people who come to visit and pay hard currencies.
2. It provides employment to many people, that is, graduates or undergraduates may have the grace or working as employees.
3. It also encourages the development of local craft industries.
4. It leads to diffusion of ideas between the tourists and the local people.
5. It also improves some certain facilities in the state or environment where it is built e.g Hotels and Airports.
6. It aids the conservation of wildlife.
7. It brings positive changes in people’s ways of life.
8. It provides some educational knowledge about the new place(s) visited.

 

DISADVANTAGES OF TOURISM

1. It can lead to breakdown of traditional values and ways of life of the local people.
2. Over-dependence of a country on tourism industry is risky.
3. It can lead to the spread of diseases e.g AIDS.