INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
There are many ways to examine the factors, which can
significantly impact on tourists’ decision on destination
selection, one popular way of which is to look at destination’s
attractions. Attractions have been viewed by many researchers as
the reason for tourists visiting a particular destination
(Richards, 2002:1048). There are two perspectives that a
destination’s attractions can be examined, namely, tourism sites
which are physically included in the destination, and attributes
which are associated with the destination.Tourism is the business
of providing and marketing services and facilities for pleasure
travelers (Nona, 1993). It is a form of recreation that requires
leaving home for some other places, whether near or far
(Olokesusi, 1989). It can also be defined as the phenomenon
arising from temporary visits (or stays away from home) outside
the normal place of residence for any reason other than
furthering an occupation remunerated from within the place
visited (Burkart and Medlik, 1981). From all the above
definitions, a tourist could be regarded as a person who is
visiting for at least one day in an area basically for the
purpose of leisure or business. Tourism involves the movement and
stay of foreigners inside and outside a city or a region,
provided the journey and stay of the stranger is not connected
with remunerative activities. In this sense, it is the sum total
of the temporary or short term movement of people from their
point of origin (source) to a destination outside their place of
work or residence. It equally entails all the non-economic
activities in which they participate during the time they stay
outside their registered domiciles.Paul (2000) defined tourism as
recreation activities requiring at least one night’s stay away
from home following a recreational interest. In this
sense,tourism involves the movement of people from a generating
region to a destination region for the purpose of adventure or
relaxation. In line with the above definition, John (1995)
defined tourism as the temporary short-term movement of people
away from where they normally live and work. A tourist in this
regard is a person who travels from place to place for non-work
reasons. The sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from
the travel and stay of non-residents, in so far as they do not
lead to permanent residence and are not connected with any
earning activity is regarded as tourism (Leonard and Carson,
1997). It involves the process of visiting for at least one night
for leisure and holiday, business and professional or other
tourism purposes (John, 1995). Thus, among others, the reasons
for tourism include cultural,historical, recreational,
environmental and ethnic considerations. It is a net earner of
foreign exchange and a major contributor to national balance of
payment. Some African countries like Tanzania, Kenya,Algeria,
Morocco, Gambia and Egypt are now reaping the socio-economic
benefits from the development of tourism resources. This supports
the view of their Robinson (1976) that tourism is a great
contributor to nations’ economy in socio-cultural, economic and
political ways.Beautiful natural scenarios as well as cultural
artifacts for the purpose of tourism are far more available in
the rural communities than in the urban areas (Ikporukpo, 1993).
He noted further that the rural areas create social safety and
the enabling environment for recreation and tourism. In a similar
submission, David (1995) noted that the natural resources of
rural areas, which attract visitors, increasingly have to be
protected from overuse and misuse, and managed for specific
leisure activities. Factors affecting the participation in
tourism activities include gender, educational background,
purpose of visit, age, occupation, the required facilities as
well as the available transportation system. Other factor are
environmental, political, religious, cultural and social
differences. The supply factors that pull tourists to specific
destinations include the level of development of the tourism
potentials, provision of infrastructural amenities, the quality
of the environment, the supply of accommodation and the
accessibility to tourism potentials.
Other factors affecting the level of patronage of tourist
attractions are the qualities of accommodation, attractions of
the destination, price levels in destination, as well as
transport. The non-economic determinants which constitute the
motivational and structural factors which influence the demand
for tourism include urbanization, the travel trade, marketing, as
well as education. Other factors are changes in population
structure as well as increase in leisure time.The key factors
that impede tourism development in developing countries include
poor implementation of tourism plans, absence of defined measures
to encourage participation in toruism, policy formulation and
implementation, and poor infrastructural development. Other
factors are, cultural and financial constraints as well as
manpower development and motivation. All these factors hinder
tourism development in third world countries. Another impediment
identified by Aworitefe (1986) is lack of understanding of the
importance of recreation and tourism as well as bad management.
Tourism is a concomitant to sustainable development. It is a
great generator of economic wealth for developed countries like
United State America Germany, Japan, France and Canada. The
challenge of international tourism has been accepted by few
African countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Egypt and
Algeria These countries are now reaping the socio-economic and
psychological benefits that are associated with tourism
development.
In Nigeria, little attention has been given to tourism
development (Ojo, 1978; Afolabi 1992). The reason for this is not
unconnected with the low economic structure as well as the rural
economic base of the country. However, the nation is very rich
both in ecology and culture. It has a wide variety of
biodiversity. It is equally blessed with many traditional
festivals and cultural attractions. On this note, Ikporukpo
(1993) noted that the multiplicity of cultures in the country
provides a good setting for the evolution of various cultural
heritage-based tourist facilities.
Ekiti State, Nigeria has abundant tourism resources in their
urban and rural
places. There are several potentials for relaxation and holiday
in their tourist attractions. The vistas of excellence in Ekiti
State include rocky mountains, unique plants, forest reserves,
parks, gardens, warm springs, lakes, buildings of historical
significance, and several other man-made and natural features.
The main motivation for this study lies in the fact
that in spite of the numerous tourism potentials of the state,
the level of participation intourism is very low. This is due
partly to ignorance of the benefits of tourism and
mainly to the poor development state of the potentials. Thus,
this study aims at awakening individuals, the government,
parastatals, policy makers, nongovernmental organizations and
tourists to the broad duty of moving towards sustainable tourism
in the state
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
In view of the product status of this natural attractions in
baruten local government, and it’s international
recognition ,there is need to survey the attraction sites in
order to examine their current level of development of the
attraction and the development challenges faced by the study area
which has been detrimental to the growth of tourism in the area.
In the course of carrying out the research, it was
observed that certain factors has led to the impediment of
tourism development in the study area ; accessibility
problem ,inadequate tourist facilities in the area, improper
policy implementation and planning ,lack of marketing and
promotional strategy among others are the various problems
affecting the study area. All the above mentioned needs to be
addressed in the course of this work.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
To identify the various natural attractions in baruten local
government.
To examine the level of tourist patronage to the area.
To document the current level of development of the attraction
in the study area.
To investigate the developmental challenges of the attractions
in the study area.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Mention the various natural attractions you know in baruten.
What is the relevance of this attraction to the people of
baruten.
What is the level of tourist patronage to the area.
How is the development of the attraction compare to other
attraction visited.
How is the current the level of the development of this
attractions compare to your previous visit.
What are the developmental challenges you know that affects
the study area.
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The research work focuses on the survey of natural
attraction to tourism development in baruten local government
area of kwara state. This research work remains significant to
the fact that it has been able to culminate all the various
challenges via proffer solution to the study area and its
neighboring entities in order to ensure developmental progress
of such destination.
JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
The choice of natural attraction in baruten is based on the
fact that it has not attained international
recognition,dimension and prominence in the last few years due
to lack of government efforts at exploring field of tourism as
veritable means of sourcing for funds rather than being viable
means of revenue generation via tourism development of the
economy.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
Tourism development refers to all the activities associated with
providing facilities for tourists in a destination. It involves
activities such as skills development, job and wealth creation,
and marketing. Marketing of various tourist destinations through
liaison, training and advice of local tourism businesses promotes
tourism development.
TOURISM
Tourism is an activity done by an individual or a group of
individuals, which leads to a motion from a place to another.
From a country to another for performing a specific task, or it
is a visit to a place or several places in the purpose of
entertaining which leads to an awareness of other civilizations
and cultures, also increasing the knowledge of countries,
cultures, and history
Tourism has a direct impact on the national revenue for all
touristic countries, it creates work opportunities, industries,
and several investments to serve and raise nations performance
and cultures, also distributes their history, civilization, and
traditions.
ATTRACTION
LITERATURE REVIEW
Tourism is a concomitant to sustainable development. It is a
great generator of economic wealth for developed countries like
United State America Germany, Japan, France and Canada. The
challenge of international tourism has been accepted by few
African countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Egypt and
Algeria. These countries are now reaping the socio-economic and
psychological benefits that are associated with tourism
development via the natural endowment.
In Nigeria, little attention has been given to tourism
development (Ojo, 1978; Afolabi 1992). The reason for this is not
unconnected with the low economic structure as well as the rural
economic base of the country. However, the nation is very rich
both in ecology and culture. It has a wide variety of
biodiversity. It is equally blessed with many traditional
festivals and cultural attractions. On this note, Ikporukpo
(1993) noted that the multiplicity of cultures in the country
provides a good setting for the evolution of various cultural
heritage-based tourist facilities.
Without tourist attractions there would be no tourism
(Gunn1972:24). Without tourism there would be no tourist
attractions. Although a tautology, such an argument still points
to the fundamental importance of tourist attractions and the
attractiveness of places to tourism. Efforts at specificity often
reduce the simple concept of “tourist attraction” to exploitable
“resources” (Ferrario 1976:4), marketable “products” (Wahab et al
1976:38) and “images” (WTO 1980a, 1980b). or simply place
“attributes” (Witter 1985: 16) or “features” (Polacek and Aroch
1984: 17). Most researchers, however, agree that attractions are
the basic elements on which tourism is developed (Gunn 1979:48-
73, 1980a; Lundberg 1980:33-40; Pearce 1981:30-Z). In essence,
tourist attractions consist of all those elements of a
“nonhome”place that draw discretionary travelers away from their
homes. They usually include landscapes to observe, activities to
participate in, and experiences to remember. Yet it can sometimes
be difficult to differentiate between attractions and non-
attractions. Transportation (e.g., cruise liners), accommodations
(e.g., resorts), and other services (e.g., restaurants) can
themselves take on the attributes of an attraction, further
comp1icatin.g the distinction between various segments of the
tourism industry. At times, tourists themselves can even become
attractions (MacCannell 1976:130-l). MacCannell (1976:109)
proposes that a phenomenon must have three components to be
considered an attraction: a tourist, a site to be viewed, and a
marker or image which makes the site significant. These criteria
could enable virtually anything to become a tourist attraction.
Thus, “attraction” in its widest context would include not only
the historic sites, amusement parks, and spectacular scenery,
which are normally associated with the word, but also the
services and facilities which cater to the everyday needs of
tourists. Also included would be
the social institutions which form the basis for the very
existence of human habitation. Non-entertainment oriented
attractions have been variously referred to as “comfort
attractions” (Lew 1986a: 2 15), “conditional elements” (Hansen-
Verbeke 1986:86), or have been categorized into “services and
accommodations” (McIntosh and Goeldner 1984: 11) or the nebulous
“other” (Gunn 1979:58; Polacek and Aroch 1984: 17).
Although the importance of tourist attractions is readily
recognized, tourism researchers and theorists have yet to fully
come to terms with the nature of attractions as phenomena both in
the environment and in the mind (Gunn 1980a). An examination of
some of the research related to tourist attractions reveals a
consistent pattern of research questions and designs. The
following discussion summarizes the range of approaches employed
in the categorization of attractions, as revealed in recent
tourism
literature. The typologies, in part, reflect the nature of the
various disciplines involved. However, in the least the review
provides an initial step toward focusing on and understanding
tourist attractions. Tourism is conceived as an easy means of
boosting a national or regional economy, as it may bring
investment, create jobs, and promote sales of crafts and local
artifacts (Pandey et al., 1995: i). Increasingly, cities, and
nations are turning to tourism as an important element in their
economic portfolio. If it is handled appropriately, tourism can
also become an important engine for achieving broader social
goals (Crouch & Ritchie, 1999: 137). However, as a socio-economic
activity, tourism does not occur randomly. Some destinations
appear to be more successful than others in offering tourism
activities and in attracting tourists (Formica, 2000: 4). In
order to be successful in the competitive tourism market, tourism
planners need to clearly understand the difference between
attributes of tourism products and tourism attractions, and how
important they are. In some studies in tourism literature, the
word ‘attribute’ and ‘attraction’ were used interchangeably.
However, sometimes they have different connotations. For a non-
tourism product, the attributes are supposed to be its
attractions. Coca-cola, for example, its attributes include its
generic attributes, such as price, convenience to buy, and
package, and with its functional attributes being, for example,
quenching one’s thirst, and hotness. All the above attributes are
supposed to be Coca-cola’s attractions and vice versa. However,
for a tourist destination, despite the fact that all its
attributes can be deemed as its attractions, not all its
attractions are necessarily its attributes. According to Walsh-
Heron and Stevens (1990, cited by Prideaux, 2002: 381-382), a
tourism attraction is a “place, venue or focus of activities and
does the following: sets out to attract visitors, is a fun and
pleasurable experience, is developed to realize this potential,
is managed as an attraction to provide satisfaction to its
customers, provides appropriate facilities and may or may not
charge an admission fee”. From this point of view, tourism
attractions are highly related to tourism sites or activities in
a destination. However, from the point of view of the benefits
that visitors expect from visiting a destination, a destination’s
attributes such as price, service, and entertainment, are also
the destination’s attractions (Swarbrooke, 1999: 12).
Furthermore, a destination’s attraction has its own attributes,
and all its attributes are supposed to be an important source of
its attractiveness. Thus, the boundary between the attractions
and attributes of a destination is overlapped.
Tourism as a Tool for Economic Development in Nigeria
Tourism is widely acknowledged as an effective tool for socio-
economic development, because of the possible backward and
forward linkages with the rest sectors of the economy, which
allows it to facilitate employment opportunities, income, local
economic development, and enhance the quality of life (Hall,
2007). However, Hall (2007) argues that the extent to which these
benefits accrue to a nation crucially depends on local
conditions. Furthermore, Manwa (2012) argue that for tourism to
be sustainable the community has to benefit directly from it,
this will enable them to protect and conserve the resources upon
which it is based. This is further emphasized by Smith (2007)
that apart from the type of tourism, the extent to which tourism
confers economic benefits on any country also depends on the
expectations of the tourists and the host country’s ability to
provide appropriate and adequate facilities. And unless economic
policies to promote tourism remain a focus in developing
countries, tourism will not be a potential source of economic
growth (Ekanayake and Long, 2012).
This has been a problem for the developing countries with
inadequate infrastructure generally and tourism supporting
infrastructure in particular. There is no where the problem of
inadequate infrastructure is most pronounced than in Nigeria
where the dearth of infrastructure is compounded by the inability
to maintain the few existing ones and replicate infrastructure to
areas lacking in amenities usually outside of the capital and
major cities. In Nigeria, lack of infrastructures is most
pronounced in the rural areas where incidentally most of its
tourist sites are also located. Nevertheless, efforts at
developing infrastructure to support tourism in Nigeria, paltry
as these may be, happen only in the urban areas (Briedenhann and
Wickens, 2004). This is where and how tourism is expected to have
its most impact on economic development given the infrastructure
and income it can attract to rural Nigeria to spur economic
growth (Fayissa, Nsiah and Tadaese, 2007), and development in
rural areas and the regions (SEPO, 2006) In this regard, tourism
can facilitate the replication of infrastructure to the regions
and the rural areas of Nigeria, which are usually the areas which
lack amenities (Hawkins and Mann, 2007; SEPO, 2006).
While tourism presents developing countries like Nigeria with
huge opportunity and scope for economic diversification, efforts
should be made to manage possible adverse social and
environmental impacts. Although the quality of the environment,
both natural and man-made, is essential to tourism, this cannot
be taken for granted given the complex relationships that exist
between tourism and the environment (Mbaiwa, 2003). Many of these
impacts are linked with the construction of general tourism
enhancing infrastructure such as roads and airports, and of
tourism facilities, including resorts, hotels, restaurants,
shops, golf courses and marinas to name but a few. The associated
environmental problems, according to Giaoutzi and Nijkamp (2006),
have consequences for the quality and quantity of available
resources, which in the long run could undermine tourism
development. However, Yasong (2008) has argued that it is not
difficult to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism and clarify
associated benefits, and that this can be effectively done
through tourism planning. This is particularly the case in order
not to undermine the carrying-capacity of the biophysical
environment. In particular, tourism can also impact negatively on
the social fabrics of local economies where local culture such as
local celebrations, festivals, dance, and folklore amongst others
could be subsumed (Godfrey and Clarke, 2000).
Culture as Attractive Attribute to natural attraction
In the past decade, the fast growth of cultural tourism and
natural attraction visitation has been leading to some
researchers (Miller, 1997; Richards, 1996; Smith, 2003) argue
that cultural attractions have become the most important
attribute coupled with natural attraction, which motivates people
to travel. Rojek (1997) and Shenkar (2001) explain the fast
growth of cultural tourism by two reasons. Firstly, the
increasing affluence and disposable income has boosted tourism in
general, and in turn boosted cultural tourism as well. Secondly,
increasing levels of education have stimulated the demand for
cultural tourism and nature tourism in particular. In other
words, tourists are increasingly interested in the cultural and
natural aspects associated with a destination. Miller (1997: 7)
argued that cultural tourism has become the mass market in
tourism industry. Antolovic (1999, cited in McKercher, 2002: 30)
indicated that 70% of all Americans traveling to Europe seek a
cultural heritage experience (visit museum, historical monument,
and archaeological sites, etc), and that about two-thirds of all
visitors to the UK are seeking a cultural heritage tourism
experience as part of their trip. The World Tourism Organization
(WTO) asserted that the cultural tourism currently accounts for
37% of all tourists’ trips and that demand is growing by 15% per
annum (WTO, 1996, cited in Richards, 2001: 8). Cultural tourism
and nature tourism has already gained much attention from many
national and local governments as well. In Bali (Indonesia),
cultural tourism, which is the most important regional
development policy, has been adopted by the provincial government
of Bali (Yamashita, 1999: 178). The South Korean government
defined 1998 as the year of its historic and cultural tourism .
Beautiful Scenery as Attractive Attribute to tourist
Since the day when tourism became a mass market due to a number
of people starting to enjoy travel, tourism has been defined as a
“landscape industry”, and regarded as fully integrated with
destinations’ environment (Formica, 2000: 2). Tourists,
especially those in holiday mood, would like to enjoy their
destinations’ natural views and beautiful scenery. Formica (2000:
39) believes that natural vistas and appealing landscapes have
always been key attributes in determining the tourism
attractiveness of a destination. Lohmann and Kaim (1999)
conducted a representative survey of German citizens to evaluate
the importance of certain destination attributes. The attribute –
landscape, was found to be the most important even before price
considerations (Lohmann & Kaim, 1999: 61). A similar point of
view was taken by Hu and Ritchie (1993). In their study of
measuring the importance of destination attributes, they
concluded that natural beauty and climate were of universal
importance in defining destinations attractiveness (Hu and
Ritchie, 1993: 32). Thus, nature-based beautiful scenery could be
deemed as a meaningful attribute for a destination to attract
more visitors.
Accessibility as Attractive Attribute to a natural attraction
site
Accessibility can be defined as the “relative ease or difficulty
with which customers can reach the destination of their choice”
(Kim, 1998: 345). Tourists’ destination choice is often
influenced by convenience. Given a choice between similar
destinations, a tourist will tend to choose the more convenient
one. Thus, destinations, which are more proximate, would be more
likely to be accepted over destinations offering similar products
that are less proximate (McKercher, 1998: 39).
The accessibility of a destination is governed by a wide variety
of influences, many of which may depend on much broader economic,
social, or political concerns, such as regulation of the airline
industry, entry visas and permits, route connections, hubs,
landing slots, airport capacities, and competition among carriers
(Crouch & Ritchie, 1999: 149). From this point of view, it is
difficult to evaluate the accessibility of a destination, based
on supply-side. McKercher (1998: 39) suggested that accessibility
could be measured by the relative difference in the time, cost,
distance, or effort required to access different destinations,
based on demand-side. Accessibility might be an attractive
attribute for a certain destination. Zhang and Lam (1999: 591)
conducted a study of mainland Chinese travelers’ motivation to
visit Hong Kong, based on the ‘push-pull’ framework. Results
showed that accessibility of Hong Kong is one of the top three
significant pull attributes, which attract mainland Chinese to
Hong Kong.
2.3.7 Safety as Attractive Attribute to a destination.
Although there are many attributes associated with a destination,
safety is the major concern for tourists to make a decision on
destination selection. Pizam and Mansfeld (1996: 1) indicated
“safety, tranquility and peace are necessary conditions for
prosperous tourism . . ., most tourists will not spend their hard
earned money to go to a destination where their safety and well-
being may be in jeopardy”. It has been generally accepted that
safety and security at a destination are critical determinants of
its competitiveness. Elements of safety and security include
political instability/unrest, probability of terrorism, crime
rates, record of transportation safety, corruption of
police/administrative services, quality of sanitation, prevalence
of outbreak of disease, and quality/unreliability of medical
services (Dwyer and Kim, 2003: 397). In this age of
globalization, serious crime against tourists hits the
international headlines around the world and can destroy the
tourist destination in the short run (Christie & Crompton, 2001:
29). The 1992 Florida, USA, tourist murders, for example,
generated considerable media attention and resulted in a
significant decline of tourism (Dimanche & Lepetic, 1999: 19).
The travel and tourism industry is very sensitive to crisis
events. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, the volume
and pattern of tourism flows were affected and has not recovered
from that event. Particular destinations, such as the USA and
countries in the Middle East, are experiencing greater turndowns
in visitors than others because of tourists’ safety and security
considerations (Dwyer & Kim 2003: 397). Tourists’ perceptions of
safety and security to a destination will have a significant
effect on the destination’s image.
This chapter contains methodological aspect of the research. The
particular issues discussed under the work include research
instrument, sampling technique, sample size, methods of data
analysis.
3.1 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT Data for this study therefore were
collected through the use of questionnaire [quantitative] the in
depth interview [qualitative] and the secondary sources of data
[existing literature].
A. QUESTIONNAIRE It consists of 2 sections. The first section is
section ‘A’ and was designed to tap demographic information from
the age, sex, educational qualification, marital status and
occupation.
Section ‘B’ has as its focus on the main objectives of the study.
At the end of the day 100 respondent were sampled in order to get
the need for the study.
B. INDEPTH INTERVIEW This was an oral interview conducted among
the staff of the local government. These sets of people were
included because of the post they are holding in the attraction
site. They are known as the staff of the destination area to give
detailed information on the issues under study.
C. SECONDARY SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION
This involved examination of relevant publication that is
available on the research subject. This is very essential in
order to achieve the set objectives. It is believed that a
combination of these research techniques will make collations of
adequate data possible and ensure meaningful findings.
Research Design
The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study.
This method is most appropriate when one is studying a large
population, which involves the use of questionnaire on a selected
sample, which permits inferences and generalisation to the entire
population.
Population
The population to be sampled are the tourist,residents and
officials or the local governmet staff of the area.
Sample and Sampling Technique
Convenient sampling technique was used to select one thousand 100
respondents found in the area coupled with tourists and the
residents.
Research Instrument
The self-developed , modified questionnaire with weight
allotment of very high, high, avarege low, poor, as well as open
ended and closed ended questions will be used for the study.
Data Collection and Analyses
Data were collected with the aid of tour guide and the event
manager and are analysed
through the use of frequency counts, percentages and inferential
statistics of simple percentage methods
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