• Tourism

Tourism

The Millennium Development Goals are accepted internationally as a common framework for development. But even though these goals are global, they are most effective when linked to local realities. This means adapting them to make the most of local social capital, use locally available resources and get local communities involved.

An example of this is tourism development in Badagry, Nigeria. Badagry is a poor and underdeveloped area, but there is considerable potential for tourism, which could help to reduce poverty. This potential is diverse, with many different attractions, including:

• cultural festivals and events such as Zangbeto, and other Masquerades
• natural resources including creeks, lagoons and the sea
• historical attractions, for example the Vlekete Slave market and Baracoons
• other social and cultural attractions, including the Agbalata market and the warmth and hospitality of local people.    

Tourism in Nigeria suffers from incoherent policies, a severe lack of funds and ‘piecemeal’ development strategies that restrict tourism growth and limit the benefits to individuals and communities. For example, national tourism policies contain several objectives but have no priorities; this makes implementing these extremely difficult.

Furthermore, the government has many misconceptions about tourism. They associate this sector with hotels and physical developments, or developing specific sites such as parks, gardens, beaches and museums. This view fails to consider the interwoven roles of nature, environments and people in tourism. 

Policymakers need to adopt a more integrated view of local environments and cultures when developing tourism policies. Although there may be particular places and sites in a region that are important for tourism, these should not be isolated from their wider surroundings. When describing and marketing a destination, tourism policies should consider the historical and contemporary character of people and places a region – including all the sceneries and cultures, not just the main attractions.

While developing physical facilities such as hotels is essential, promoting the unique culture of a place is of equal importance – it is this culture that offers variable and exciting experiences to visitors. A successful tourism strategy must provide people with desirable experiences, or they will not come back or be inspired to ‘spread the word’ about a wonderful destination to others.

According to Chokor (1983), the most appropriate tourism policies come from coordinating and describing the qualities of our environments from the perspective of both tourists and local communities. In Badagry, the rich cultural heritage and artistic endowments should be used to attract tourists – from within and outside the country – on a continuous basis. This is particularly attractive as a development strategy as investing in cultural tourism is less capital-intensive than developing resorts.

• It is important to recognise that as tourism expands and bring wider economic benefits – including income, employment, revenue and foreign exchange – there is the potential for a disturbing array of social and environmental impacts.
• Understanding these issues is crucial for the proper planning and management of sustainable tourism.
• In turn, sustainable tourism development requires that the social and environmental implications of tourism development are integrated into any wider development policies for an area.

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