ABSTRACT
Tourism
is now one of the world’s largest industries and one of its fastest growing
economic sectors. For many countries tourism is seen as a main instrument for
regional development, as it stimulates new economic activities. Tourism may
have a positive economic impact on the balance of payments, on employment, on
gross income and production, but it may also have negative effects, particularly
on the environment. Unplanned and uncontrolled tourism growth can result in
such a deterioration of the environment that tourist growth can be compromised.
The environment, being the major source of tourist product, should therefore be
protected in order to have further growth of tourism and economic development
in the future. This is specially true with regard to tourism based on the
natural environment. Sustainable tourism has three interconnected aspects:
environmental, sociocultural, and economic. Sustainability implies permanence,
so sustainable tourism includes optimum use of resources, including biological
diversity; minimization of ecological, cultural and social impacts; and
maximization of benefits for conservation and local communities. It also refers
to the management structures that are needed to achieve this.
The
research work provides a theoretical framework for sustainable tourism. The
first part presents general views on tourism and sustainable economic
development, and some opinions on the relationship between tourism and the
environment. The second part concentrates on strategies and policy instruments.
Also, this research work was supported based on the hypothesis tested and the
method of research is a quantitative research method and testing tools is the
SPSS data tool and analysis with chi-square using a 0.5 significance difference
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
In
1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, 178 governments approved Agenda 21 and the Rio
Declaration. Agenda 21 offered a blueprint for sustainable development, while
the Rio Declaration articulated the main principles for sustainable development
in the 21st century. Both documents challenged organizations, governments and
industries to work towards maximum levels of sustainability, a number of
countries in Africa and the Pacific consider tourism to be an important vehicle
for economic and social development. The tourism industry has the potential to
generate foreign exchange earnings, create employment, promote development in
various parts of the country, reduce income and employment disparities among
regions, strengthen linkages among many sectors of the national economy and
help to alleviate poverty. However, this standard view of the tourism industry
does not give a complete picture of the potential contribution that tourism can
provide for developing countries. A more complete viewpoint can be provided by
the concept of sustainable tourism development, because it can help
policy-makers make more effective policies and plans designed to realize the
full social and economic potential of the tourism industry. Sustainable tourism
development is premised on the responsibility of governments and all
stakeholders in the tourism sector to ensure that long-term prosperity and the
quality of life of future generations is not placed at risk.
In
order to sustain tourism, it is necessary for countries to address various
issues arising from tourism’s contribution to development in a comprehensive,
systematic way. Issues of policy-making, planning, management and the
participation of the private sector and other stakeholders must be addressed in
terms of opportunities for action and possible constraints that need to be
overcome by concerted efforts.
Tourism
plays important role in economic development at any community, national,
regional and global levels by using natural resources and environments as key
physical inputs. In making use of the environment and natural resources, the
negative impacts have to be minimized to assure sustainable use, as well as
generate enough tourism revenue to reinvest a certain portion of funds. The
reinvestment should aim at enhancing the quality of the resources and build the
management capacity at various levels. There is a complex relationship between
tourism and the environment, such that tourism has inevitable and important
environmental impacts, including: resource use, consumption, waste, pollution
and effects from tourism-related transport. At the same time, beaches,
mountains, rivers, forests and diverse flora and fauna make the environment a
basic resource that the tourism industry needs in order to thrive and grow.
While the viability of tourism could be threatened by negative environmental
impacts, tourism could also contribute significantly to environmental protection.
1.1 Background of the Study
Sustainable
Development has become an accepted concept for policy development.
International Agencies and Organizations like the World Tourism and Travel
Council (WWTC) and the International Federation of Tour Operators (IFTO) have
attempted to highlight tourism- environment issues. In 1993, the World Tourism
Organisation (WTO) published a Guide for sustainable development for local
planners. UNEP, in collaboration with the International Hotels Environment
Initiative has produced guidelines to improve the environmental performance of
hotel units (The Green Hotelier, Going Green Makes Sense, Environmental
Management for Hotels). The Convention for Biodiversity and Agenda 21 support
incentives towards sustainable tourism development.
The
European Commission has published the Green Paper on the Role of the Union in
the field of Tourism. During 1995 and 1996 it established ECONETT, a network
for tourism and environment. Significant initiatives for sustainable tourism
were also undertaken by the Council of Europe. Because of Treaty obligations,
the EU''s tourism sector cooperation with governments or private business needed
to include a consideration of the environmental effects of each planned action.
Within this context the private sector also undertook initiatives towards
reducing impacts of tourism on the environment.
Hotels,
airlines and others implemented several measures in order to promote
sustainable consumption of natural resources and minimization of waste
production.
Travel
over long distances requires a large amount of time and/or energy. Generally,
this involves burning fossil fuels, a largely unsustainable practice and one
that contributes to climate change, via CO2 emissions. Mass transport is the
most climate friendly method of travel, and generally the rule is "the
bigger the better" compared to cars, buses are relatively more
sustainable, and trains and ships are even more so. Human energy and renewable
energy are the most efficient, and hence, sustainable. Travel by bicycle, solar
powered car, or sailing boat produces no carbon emissions (although the
embodied energy in these vehicles generally comes at the expense of carbon
emission).
Tourism
is a rapidly growing phenomenon and has become one of the largest industries in
the world. The impact of tourism is extremely varied. On one hand, it plays an
important and certainly positive role in the socio-economic and political
development in destination countries by, for instance, offering new employment
opportunities. Also, in certain instances, it may contribute to a broader
cultural understanding by creating awareness, respecting the diversity of
cultures and ways of life. On the other hand, as a tool to create jobs, it has
not fulfilled its expectations. At the same time, complaints from tourist
destinations concerning massive negative impacts upon environment, culture and
residents‟ ways of life have given rise to
a demand for a more sustainable development in tourism. Different parties will
have to be involved in the process of developing sustainable tourism (UNCSD
NGO,1999).
Tourism
development can have both positive and negative impacts on destinations.
Sustainable tourism development attempts to find a balance between these
impacts to create an improved quality of life for the host community and the
destination. The World Commission on Economic Development (WCED) describes
sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the abilityof future generations to meet their own needs”.
This session further describes some of the principles that havebeen proposed to
ensure that the tourism industry of the future is characterized by rewarding
and sustainabletravel experiences(WCED, 1987).
1.2 Statement of Problem
In
the past decade, tourism has become the largest and most lucrative industry
worldwide in terms of employment and share of global gross domestic product.
The tourism industry has been growing rapidly as well as changing at a fast
pace, as more people are interested in spending leisure time in nature,
(ecotourism) it has become one of the fastest-growing segments of the tourism
industry. This creates opportunities in areas characterized by natural
attractions, wildlife and wilderness habitats. Local communities may benefit in
economic terms as well as create a commitment to conservation and sustainable
development.
At
present, increased demands for ecotourism create pressure on carrying capacity.
Greater numbers of visitors make it more likely that habitats will be at risk
and the wilderness and cultural heritage could be ruined. For instance, in
China they will encounter many challenges, because they are ranked sixth
worldwide in terms of tourist arrivals. In the next twenty years, China is
forecast to be the top tourist destination and the fourth largest source of
tourists in the world. This prospect for major tourism growth in China makes it
important to quickly consider the environmental and social issues that are part
of sustainable tourism development. Careful planning and assessment are
important parts of sustainable tourism development. Officials responsible for
national parks and other nature areas will have a major responsibility for
handling the challenges and deciding which opportunities for tourism development
can be sustained over the long term. Local communities will also have to
participate in planning and assessment when culture and heritage are important
parts of ecotourism. It has been noted that the principles for ecotourism have
not yet been firmly established in order to guide planning and assessment.
However, two basic principles of ecotourism that have been identified are: (1)
encourage conservation and (2) provide benefits to the local populations. However,
they are certain tools that can be used to help achieve balance, such as
assessment of carrying capacity, finding the limits of acceptable change and
doing cost/benefit analysis. Tourism policy-makers, planners and managers
should consider these tools as helpful only if they take a holistic, coordinated
approach, especially since benefits and costs in terms of sustainable tourism
development are not easily defined in monetary terms. Furthermore, measuring
the success of tourism involving nature (for example, national parks) and
culture (for example, village-based tourism like Ofala Festival in Enugu State)
should not just be based on number of visitors or amount of income; rather
measurement should include the length of stay, quality of the experience and
whether natural and cultural resources have been conserved. Ecotourism can
clearly create opportunities for spreading the economic benefits of tourism to
villages, remote areas and national parks, as long as the government policy
aims to have more tourism in these areas and the local people have participated
in the process. Along these lines, policy-makers should be aware that
smaller-scale business operators are more appropriate for activities related to
ecotourism and government policies need to support this level of tourism
services.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
This
research work is set to explore on cultural tourism and community development
(a case study of Ofala festival in Enugu state) with other
objectives as follows:
i.
To examine how Ofala Festival in Enugu
State tourist site be one of the leading sectors of the Nigerian economy.
ii.
To determine the level of relationship
between Ofala Festival in Enugu State management and Tourism development.
iii.
To examine how oriented Nigerians are
towards managing their culture and tourist sites.
iv.
To examine the relationship between
culture, tourism and the economy.
1.4 Research Questions
i.
How can Ofala Festival in Enugu State
tourist site be one of the leading sectors of the Nigerian economy?
ii.
What is the level of relationship
between Ofala Festival in Enugu State management and Tourism development?
iii.
How oriented are Nigerians towards
managing their culture and tourist sites?
iv.
What is the relationship between
culture and tourism and the economy?