Assessment of Contributions of Tourism to Community Development in Cross River State

Assessment of Contributions of Tourism to Community Development in Cross River State

CHAPTER ONE

Purpose of the Study

Consequently, the general purpose of this study was to assess the contributions of tourism to community development in Cross River State.

Specifically, the study sought to:

1. determine the extent to which tourism has contributed to the economic development of Cross River State.
2. determine the extent to which tourism has contributed to the social development of Cross River State
3. determine the extent to which tourism has contributed to the cultural development of Cross River State.
4. ascertain the extent to which tourism has contributed to the environmental sustainability of Cross River State.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is concerned with a review of literature relevant to the study. It was organized under the following subheadings:  conceptual framework, theoretical framework, review of empirical studies and summary of literature review

Conceptual Framework

•  Concept of Assessment
• Concept of Community Development
• Concept of Tourism

Theoretical Framework

• Stakeholders’ Theory
• Community Development Theory

Review of Related Empirical Studies

Summary of Literature Review

Conceptual Framework  

Concept of Assessment

Assessment is a process of making value judgments over a level of performance or achievement. Making value judgments in assessment process presupposes the set of objectives. Kizlik (2012) stated that assessment is a process by which information is obtained relative to some known objective or goal. In other words it is the process of gathering information to monitor progress and make decisions if necessary. According to Kizlik, a plan for monitoring and assessing a project should be developed by the assessor during its proposal process. The plan should address the scope, timing and resources. As part of developing the plan, the individual responsible for conducting the assessment meets with various stakeholders to review the project objectives, scope, methods, budget and schedule to gather an understanding of the work, perceived risks, stakeholder expectations and assumptions. Contributing to the above point, Foundation Coalition (2004) defined assessment as data-gathering strategies, analyses, and reporting processes that provide information that can be used to determine whether or not intended outcomes are being achieved.

Assessment is the process of gathering information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of a pragramme and the extent at which its objectives are achieved (Huba and Freed 2000). Buttressing the above point, the author noted that assessment is the systematic basis for making inferences about the improvement of a programme.  It is the process of defining, selecting, and designing, collecting, analyzing and interpreting the rate at which a targeted goal is actualized.  In consonance with the above assertion, Naughton (2003) asserted that assessment can be defined as the process of making judgment or forming an opinion after considering programmes carefully. Stressing further, the author stated that the general purpose of most assessment is to provide useful feedback to a variety of audiences including sponsors, donors, client-groups, administrators, staffs and other relevant constituencies. Assessment according to Barbazette (2006) is the process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information which can be used to pass judgment about a particular programme.

Assessment could be seen as a systematic collection and analysis of data in order to assess the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, and organizations to improve their effectiveness. It involves making careful judgments about the worth, significance and meaning of phenomenon which is either about proving whether something is working or needed or improving practice or a project (Rogers and Smith, 2006). Justifying the above assertion Maxwell (2010) posited that assessment is the coordinated process of evaluating, investigating and examining a given phenomenon in order to ascertain useful information and feedback that will be used to address pertinent problems about the phenomenon. Therefore, it is a systematic and objective assessment of an ongoing or completed project, programme or policy, its design, implementation and results. Justifying the above assertion, Mirriam (2013) posited that assessment is the act of making a judgment about something and the act of assessing something. The author further stated that assessment is an idea or opinion about something. There is a broad consensus that the major goal of assessment should be to influence decision-making or policy formulation of the provision of empirically driven feedback (Coyle, 2000).

However, assessment is often divided into initial, formative and summative categories for the purpose of considering different objectives for assessment practices. Initial assessment can also be referred to as pre-assessment or diagnostic assessment. Initial assessment is conducted prior to instruction or intervention to establish a baseline from which programmes objectives were achieved. Formative assessment is generally carried out throughout a course or project. It can assist an organization assess any aim, realizable concept or any alternative to help in decision-making or to ascertain the degree of achievement or value in regard to the aim and objective of any project.

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CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHOD

This chapter presents the procedure that was adopted in carrying out this study. The procedure was discussed under the following sub-headings: Design of the Study, Area of the Study, Population of the Study, Sample and Sampling Technique, Instrument for Data Collection, Validation of the Instrument, Reliability of the Instrument, Procedure for Data Collection, Method of Data Analysis

Design of the Study

Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. According to Nworgu (2006), descriptive survey research design is a study which aims at collecting data on and describing in a systematic manner the characteristic features or facts about a given population. It is therefore, considered appropriate for this study because the researcher  made use of data collected from the sample to assess the contributions of tourism to community development in Cross River State.

In addition, a qualitative method of field survey in the form of Focus Group Discussions (FGD) guide was also used. Trammelan (2001) stated that Focus Group Discussion is a discussion group which examines specific subjects that have been prepared with a moderator who keeps the group to the subject under consideration. The FGD provides a two way communication, offers time for in-depth discussion, provides immediate feedback on new information, fosters group spirit when common concerns are identified and allow for emotional as well as intellectual reaction. Hence, both quantitative and qualitative methods of field survey were used in this study by the researcher.

Area of the Study

The study was carried out in Cross River State. Cross River State has eighteen Local Government Areas namely: Abi, Akamkpa, Akpabuyo, Bakassi, Bekwara, Biase, Boki, Calabar Municipal, Calabar South, Etung, Ikom, Obubra, Obudu, Obanliku, Odukpani, Ogoja,Yakurr, and Yala. Cross River State is located in Nigeria’s South-South region. It is bounded on the North by Benue State, on the South by Akwa Ibom State, on the East by the Republic of Cameroun and on the West by Ebonyi and Abia States (Government of Cross River State, 2015). The Area is preferred because of the enormous endowed natural tourism sites. More so, the people of this area also rely on the income that is generated through tourism activities. A little population of the area is into public service and politics while some are predominantly farmers (mostly subsistence), business men and women.

  CHAPTER FOUR

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

The results of the data collected and analyzed for the research questions are presented in this chapter. The results are presented in line with the research questions that guided the study.

Research Question One

To what extent has tourism contributed to the economic development of Cross River State?

CHAPTER FIVE

DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS, CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUMMARY

In this chapter, the results presented in chapter four are discussed based on the five research questions and five null hypotheses that guided the study. The chapter is organized based on the following sub-headings: discussion of the findings, conclusion, educational implications of the findings of the study, recommendations, limitation of the study, suggestion for further studies and Summary of the study.

Discussions of the Results

The findings of the study are discussed under the relevant sub-headings below in line with the research questions and hypotheses raised in the study.

• The extent to which tourism has contributed to the economic development of Cross River State.
• The extent to which tourism has contributed to the social development of Cross River State
• The extent to which tourism has contributed to the cultural development of Cross River State.
• The extent to which tourism has contributed to the environmental sustainability of Cross River State
• Focused Group Discussion (FGD) Schedule Guide that was administered.

The Extent to which Tourism has contributed to the Economic Development of Cross River State.

The finding of this study as presented in table 1, showed that to a great extent tourism has contributed to the economic development of Cross River State. The result shows that tourism attracts banking institution, communication industries, brings about construction of roads, infrastructural development. It also increases; transport network which makes movement of loads and people easy, increases the internally generated revenue, rate of buying and selling of goods and services to the host communities, foreign investors to Cross River State and thus encourages the business growth of the host communities. The result also indicated that there is a significant difference in the mean ratings of community leaders and tourism staff on the extent to which tourism has contributed to the economic development of Cross River State. These findings in line with Tunde (2012), who made it clear that tourism is one of the fastest growing economic development of community. In support of this, Futuhinia, Toranlo, & Mazidi (2014), stated that the economic contribution of tourism now is great and cannot be underestimated. They further affirmed that tourism provide job opportunities and increases the economic development of countries.

The Extent to which Tourism has contributed to the Social Development of Cross River State

Based on the research findings in table 2, it was observed that tourism to a very high extent has contributed to social development in Cross River State. The results revealed that tourism, promotes peaceful coexistence among the people of the host communities and strangers, boost recreational and sports activities which attract many tourists to the host communities, promotes enlightenment, education, promotes interpersonal relationships which facilitates social development and others. Further analysis revealed that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of community leaders and tourism staff on the extent to which tourism has contributed to the social development of Cross River State. These findings are in support with Omeje (2006) which noted that tourism contributes to social and economic and cultural development of a country. Ghosh (2011) also stated that social interaction between tourist and host community enhances the mutual appreciation, tolerance, understanding, awareness, family bonding, learning, respect and likings which enhance social development in the host community.

The Extent to which Tourism has contributed to the Cultural Development of Cross River State.

The finding of this study as presented in table 3, showed that to a very high extent, tourism has contributed to the cultural development of Cross River State. It also revealed that tourism; encourages cultural festivals, offers opportunities for interpersonal contacts and interchange of cultural values among communities, makes it possible for tourists outside the country to learn and adapt to the cultural activities, it provide opportunity to the host communities to display their cultural festival in yearly interval for entertainment, it brings about cultural growth through its conservation of cultural values and others. Further analysis also shows that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of community leaders and tourism staff on the extent to which tourism has contributed to the cultural development of Cross River State. These findings are in line with Kung (2006), states that tourism contributes to the cultural development of the host community. He further stressed that it encourages cultural festivals, and cultural growth of people.

The Focused Group Discussion (FGD) Analysis

The Focus Group Discussion analysis, the result shows that tourism: increases the internally generated revenue for the development of the host communities in Cross River State, created employment opportunities for members of the host communities to be employed, increases transport network which makes movement of loads and people easy to the host communities, and it encourages cultural festivals in Cross River State which brings about positive changes to the host communities. Tourism in Cross River State also promote the cultural heritage of the host communities, it creates awareness on the need to protect the natural environment for community development, discourages environmental degradation and this enhances and promotes environmental sanitations. In line with these findings, we can see that both the qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis revealed similar results.

Conclusion

The following conclusions are drawn from the findings of the study.

1. Tourism contributes to the economic development of Cross River State. Tourism attracts banking institution, communication industries, and brings about construction of roads, infrastructural development. It also increases; transport network which makes movement of loads and people easy, increases the internally generated revenue, rate of buying and selling of goods and services to the host communities, foreign investors to Cross River State and thus encourages the business growth of the host communities.
2. Tourism to a very high extent contributes to social development of the host community. Tourism promotes peaceful coexistence among the people of the host communities and strangers, boost recreational and sports activities which attract many tourists to the host communities, promotes enlightenment, education, promotes interpersonal relationships which facilitates social development and others.
3. Tourism to a very high extent also contributes to the cultural development of Cross River State. Tourism encourages cultural festivals, offers opportunities for interpersonal contacts and interchange of cultural values among communities, makes it possible for tourists outside the country to learn and adapt to the cultural activities, it provide opportunity to the host communities to display their cultural festival in yearly interval for entertainment, it brings about cultural growth through its conservation of cultural values and others.
4. Tourism to a high extentcontributes to the environmental sustainability of Cross River State. Tourism creates awareness on the need to protect the natural environment for community development, enhances architectural designs, Provides recreational and sports facilities such as volley ball court, relay tracks, tennis court among others add values to the environments of the host communities, discourages environmental degradation and thus enhances and promotes environmental sanitations and attractions. Tourism also ensures the protection, preservation of the environment and natural habitats and others.
5. From the Focused Group Discussion (FGD) tourism contributes immensely to economic, social cultural and environmental development of the host community

Educational Implication of the Findings of the Study

The results of this study have some educational implications to Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism, archeologists, educationist, historians, environmentalists, community development workers at Local, State and Federal levels community leaders, policy maker researchers as a whole.

The findings will immensely help Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism in policy making and implementation by gaining good information on how tourism can be developed and improved to attract tourists for the betterment of lives of the host communities, community development and increase revenue generation among others. The findings will give the Archeologists guide on how to get archeological deposits from ancestral sites by discovering new tourist site that will improve the history of tourism. The information gotten from this study will provide educational experts such as the administrators, instructors and lecturers, including formal and non-formal education programmes at various levels with new administrative, managerial, tourism and community development approaches for community development.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are made according to the findings of the study.

1. That government should promote sustainable tourism development in order to ensure that the local communities benefit from the tourism resources within their domain.
2. There should be national-re-orientation on the need to preserve our cultural and historical sites within our various communities, especially by using different media available to enlighten the citizens on the significance of cultural and historical attractions and the future positive effect. There is need to improve and or provide basic infrastructural facilities and amenities to enable tourists and the host communities to participate in all the cultural festivals in the area, instead of choosing the ones to attend, because of lack of amenities in some areas.

Limitations of the Study

Research of this nature cannot be completed without limitations. The first limitation of this study was finance. The fund was inadequate. The cost of materials used for this research such as journals, textbooks, internet browsing and so on was not favourable at all.

The task of moving from one place to another to gather information from respondents was the second limitation to this study. Though all the respondents responded to the questionnaire but it was the researcher’s personal effort to make sure that it was properly done.

Suggestions for Further Studies

Based on the findings of the study, the following suggestions were made for further research.

1. Further researches could be carried out on the extent to which tourism has contributed to the economic development.
2. Researches can be undertaken to determine the extent tourism has contributed to the social development, environmental sustainability, and cultural development.
3. Replication of the same study can be done in another State.
4. Replication of the study could be undertaken over a long period of time.

Summary of the Study

The main purpose of this study was to assess the contributions of tourism to community development in Cross River State. Four research questions and three null hypotheses were posed and formulated respectively to guide the study. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Three of the hypotheses are:

1. There is no significant difference between the mean ratings of community leaders and tourism staff on the extent to which tourism has contributed to the economic development of Cross River State.
2. There is no significant difference between the mean ratings of community leaders and tourism staff on the extent to which tourism has contributed to the social development of Cross River State.
3. There is no significant difference between the mean ratings of community leaders and tourism staff on the extent to which tourism has contributed to the cultural development of Cross River State.

The study was carried out in Cross River State, Nigeria. The related literature to the study was reviewed under four main headings namely: conceptual framework, theoretical framework, Review of related empirical studies and summary of literature review. This study used a descriptive survey research design. A total of 101 community leaders, and 256 tourism staff making it 357 respondents were used as sample for the study. A 41 item questionnaire modeled on a four point rating scale was used to collect data for the study. Three experts validated the instrument. The instrument was trial tested and the reliability coefficient using Cronbach’s Alpha were .762 for cluster A, .635 for cluster B, .875 for cluster C and .677 for cluster D with an overall reliability coefficient of .827 respectively.

The Research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation, the null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-test. Focused Group Discussion were analyzed using qualitative analysis of the discussions. The results of the study revealed that:

1. Tourism to a high extent has contributed to the economic development of Cross River State. The result shows that tourism attracts banking institution, communication industries, brings about construction of roads, infrastructural development. It also increases; transport network which makes movement of loads and people easy, increases the internally generated revenue, rate of buying and selling of goods and services to the host communities, foreign investors to Cross River State and thus encourages the business growth of the host communities. Further analysis shows that there is no significant (p > 0.05) difference in the mean ratings of community leaders and tourism staff on the extent to which tourism has contributed to the economic development of Cross River State.
2. Tourism to a very high extent has contributed to social development in Cross River State. The results revealed that tourism, promote peaceful coexistence among the people of the host communities and strangers, boost recreational and sports activities which attract many tourists to the host communities, promotes enlightenment, education, promotes interpersonal relationships which facilitates social development and others. Further analysis revealed that there is no significant (p > 0.05) difference between the mean ratings of community leaders and tourism staff on the extent to which tourism has contributed to the social development of Cross River State.
3. Tourism to a very high extent has contributed to the cultural development of Cross River State. It also revealed that tourism; encourages cultural festivals, offers opportunities for interpersonal contacts and interchange of cultural values among communities, makes it possible for tourists outside the country to learn and adapt to the cultural activities, it provide opportunity to the host communities to display their cultural festival in yearly interval for entertainment, it brings about cultural growth through its conservation of cultural values and others. Further analysis also shows that there is no significant (p > 0.05) difference between the mean ratings of community leaders and tourism staff on the extent to which tourism has contributed to the cultural development of Cross River State.
4. Result shows tourism to a high extent has contributed to the environmental sustainability of Cross River State. The result of the study also revealed that tourism; creates awareness on the need to protect the natural environment for community development, enhances architectural designs, Provides recreational and sports facilities such as volley ball court, relay tracks, tennis court among others add values to the environments of the host communities, discourages environmental degradation and thus enhances and promotes environmental sanitations and attractions. Tourism also ensures the protection, preservation of the environment and natural habitats and others.
5. From the Focused Group Discussion (FGD) tourism contributes immensely to economic, social, cultural and environmental development of the Cross River State.

The implications of the above findings were examined and it was recommended among other things that government should promote sustainable tourism development in order to ensure that the local communities benefit from the tourism resources within their domain. The limitations of this study were highlighted and suggestions were made for further studies. 

REFERENCES

• Abubakar, I.Z. (2014). ‘‘The Economic Contribution of Tourism in Nigeria and the Strategies for
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• Achugbu, C. (2011). ‘‘The Role of Hospitality in Tourism Development: A Case Study of Selected Hotel Establishment in Awka, Anambra State’’. Unpublished M.A. Thesis: Department of Archaeology and Tourism. University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
• Afuye H. O. (2005). Community Development in West Africa. Ibadan: University Publishing Press.
• Agba, O. A., Ikoh, M. U., Bassey, A. O. and Ushie, E. M. (2010). Tourism industry impact on Efiks Culture, Nigeria. International journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research.
• Agcas, J. (2013). Tourism Officer. Retrieved from: http://www.prospects.au.u… December, 2^nd 2015.
• Akam, K. O. and Bassey, G. (2014). “The Role of Visual Arts and Theatrical Elements in Nigerian Carnival Dances: Veritable Means toward Tourism Development and National Integration”. A Paper Presented at 2^nd National Conference of Dance Scholars Society of Nigerian (DASSON), University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.
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