CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Tourism is currently the fastest growing sector of the global economy (Obot, 2003). It is already the number one industry in many countries, in terms of foreign exchange earnings and job creation (Agene, 2005). Tourism is at present the major export product for 83 percent of the developing countries and main export of one third of them. In 2000 specifically, developing Countries recorded 292.6 million international arrivals (WTO 2003).
Ukene (2008) quoting IMF report of the year 2000 asserted that tourism generated U$504 billion in the year 2000 globally. The figure is far above sectors such as automotive products, chemicals, food, petroleum, computers and office equipment, textile, telecommunication, mining, iron and steel. The tourism industry includes diverse activities such as transportation, recreation, catering etc. It affirmed as one of the world’s largest source of employment with more than 260 million people employed in the sector globally. It is also reported that more than 613 million people were serviced by the industry globally. It stimulates an annual investment in capital projects or infrastructure to the tunes of US$ 800 billion (Obot, 2013). It is also reported to account for about 11 percent of global gross domestic product GDP (WTO, 2013)
Characteristics of the tourism sites are those important features which make destinations necessary and exciting for companies when planning marketing/ social media strategy. Such important characteristics include investment and immobility, quality assurance, reliability of tourism promotions, functionability of tangibles, socio- cultural dimensions, perishability etc. Tourists’ responsiveness can be viewed as how tourists react to changes in tourism businesses
According to National population commission, as of 2010, more than 100 million people lived in Nigeria, making it the most populated country in Africa and the most populated country in the whole black race. In 2011, more than 2 million tourists visited Nigeria. The various international church crusades and conferences coupled with foreign investors on business, tourism made the bulk of the tourists and spent the equivalent of $ 3.7 million US Dollars and the figure is expected to rise by 10 percent increase year by year. Tourists are attracted by Nigeria’s cultural diversity, scenery and festivals, each region of Nigeria offer something for foreign visitors from Obudu Cattle Range, Osum Osegbo Grove, Olumo Rock, Agbokim water falls in Calabar and a number of beaches and costal in cities. Tourism development in Nigeria has undergone gradual but progressive evolution with each phase reflecting its growing importance in the economy (Osuaka, 2001). It encompasses 904 million tourists who spent 855 billion US dollars. They supported global system with roughly 100 million employers in modern leisure and experience industry. Tourism is all about place marketing. The term “place” marketing is better appreciated when we look at the spatial differentiation of places. The oxford advanced learner’s dictionary (1998) defines spatial as the ability to judge the position and distance of objects. It is because of the perceived difference between the individual’s present geographical position and the desired one that motivated the individual to move to the latter. It is based on this understanding that tourism is described as a powerful temporary movement of an individual to destinations outside his or her normal home or work place (Esu, 2006). The “place” is both the product and the container of an assemblage of products. In tourism marketing, the tourist is identified as a place customer. The role of marketing in place or tourism management is often questioned. The role of marketing is to create satisfied customers and keep them at a profit (Drucker, 1965).
Razalli, Dahlan and Ramayah (2010) defined tourism marketing responsiveness as the management ability to respond to change. The force of competition affects the overall performance of the tourism industry and / or destinations. Responsiveness is also related to the time-based competition (Stalk and Hout 1990). The reason for competition based on time is that time is equivalent to money; productivity; quality and even innovation (Stalk 1988). The success of a tourist destination is anchored on the manager’s ability to identify, adapt and overcome forces that may confront its operations in the market.
Virtually, almost all the local government areas in Nigeria have varying degrees of tourism attractions. This attests to richness of the Nigerian natural and cultural attractions as described by Fagbile (2001). The economic importance of tourism is quite enormous. It educates the travelers, provides funds for ecological conservation, creates jobs, protect and conserves the environment, improves the well-being of local people, ensures direct financial support to local people, creates political empowerment of local communities, generates revenue for government, maintains peace, law and order in the society, fostering respect for different culture and for human rights and contributes to economic development. However, this has attracted many scholarly enquires on the factors that may determine the tourism marketing responsiveness in Nigeria, considering its strategic importance to the economic development of any nation.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The importance of tourism to national economic development has been well documented in many social science researches Obot (2003), Esu (2005) and Omole (2013). This is evidenced by the number of scholarly writings in the area of tourism marketing. Today, tourism business has become a major source of foreign exchange to many developing and developed economies of the world. Adebajo, (2008) observed that tourism business in some countries have accounted for over 40 percent of their GDP and it is an essential source of foreign exchange to many nations.
Accordingly, many empirical and methodological studies have confirmed that tourism generates employments and accounts for many countries source of revenues. However, most of these studies have failed to investigate how several factors (demographic, socio-economic and tourism sites characteristics) affect the patronage of tourism destinations. For instance, a study by Esu (2005) identified factors that influenced tourism marketing but did not determine how the different factors of the tourists and of the destinations affect tourists’ responsiveness. Thus, despite these efforts by many scholars, there is still an incomplete understanding of how tourism characteristics such as destination factors, communication factors and government-commitment affect the patronage of tourism sites in the two states. Esu (2005) identified factors that influence tourism marketing but did not quantify to what extent the factor impacted on the tourists by attracting them.
To this end, a better understanding of tourism characteristics and tourist responsiveness has the potential to improve on the performance of tourism business in the area. Thus, one area that has received a lot of attention recently is tourism characteristics and tourists’ responsiveness. This is evidenced in the number of scholarly publications made in the area in recent time.
However, despite the growth and increasing importance of the industry, there seems to be little research efforts on why and how consumers or patrons make decision about tourism sites attraction in Nigeria as only a limited numbers of studies have been published in this area. This study is therefore an attempt to fill that knowledge gap in the literature.
1.3 The Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to examine the factors that affect tourists’ responsiveness to tourism destinations in Akwa Ibom and Cross River States. Thus, the specific objective of this study includes:
Determine the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of tourists in Akwa Ibom and Cross River States. Identify the characteristics of the different tourism destinations in the two States.
iii. Examine the effect of these characteristics on tourism sites attractiveness.
Explore ways upon which tourism business can be improved in the two states.
1.4 Research Questions
What are the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the tourists in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States?
What are the characteristics of the different tourism destinations in the two states?
What is the effect of these characteristics on tourism site attractiveness and patronage?
In what way(s) can tourism business be improved in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
Two hypotheses were formulated to guide this study. These include:
Ho1: Socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the tourists do not significantly influence tourists’ responsiveness in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States.
Ho2: The characteristics of different tourism destinations in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States do not significantly influence tourists’ responsiveness.
1.6 Significance of the Study: