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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.33, 258-266
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
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Nigerian government encouraged its citizens to
visit tourism destinations while concerns existed
regarding the quality of amenities and personal
safety.
Emelike (2012) reported that the 2012 Travel and
Tourism Economic Impact Report on Nigeria by
the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)
indicated a steady growth in Nigeria’s GDP and
jobs-creation efforts over the last four years. He
further stressed that this development came
despite the recent distractions caused by series of
terrorist attacks in the northern part of the country.
The WTTC further forecast in the report that in
2012 alone, some 897,500 jobs, representing 1.4
percent of Nigeria’s total engaged workforce
would be generated by the travel and tourism
industry. With about N1,232.2 billion (3.3 percent)
contribution to the GDP in 2011; possible rise by
10.8 percent in 2012 and further increase by 7.0
percent annually to hit N2,690.8 billion in 2022,
the Nigerian travel and tourism industry is fast
opening up to huge investments. The job increase
forecast was expected to “include employment by
hotels, travel agents, airlines as well as activities
of the restaurant and leisure industries directly
supported by tourists and other passenger services
(excluding commuter services).”
2.2 Beach tourism and development
The beach is a tourism attraction. It is one of the most
highly sought-after locations by tourists. The function of
a beach (in tourism sense) depends on its ability to meet
the needs of tourists in terms of adequate amenities for
leisure, relaxation, fun, romance, adventure, security, etc
(Falco-Mammone, 2005). Beaches are tourist sites or
attractions that have economic value (i.e. beaches are
economic assets). These economic development benefits
could spread beyond the immediate environment of the
beach. Moreover, businesses at the beachfront are
supplied by businesses in nearby metropolitan areas
(James et al, 2005).
In more recent years, the beach has been a place of
diversion and recreation. It also has spiritual, natural
and cultural advantages (Urbain, 2003). In today’s
world, beach tourism is diversifying in nature and
becoming more sophisticated while changing and
developing in response to tourist needs. Meanwhile
beach tourism incorporates other characteristics such
as art, culture and environmental aesthetics
(Falco-Mammone, 2005). Beaches are functional links
that exist between the land and the sea/ocean. They
are the main factor attracting humans to coastal areas,
and play a major role in increasing tourist potential in
such areas. Beach tourists engage in
sunbathing,
camping, picnicking, and aquatic sports.
Despite associated economic benefits, beach resort
development faces problems due to the inability of
stakeholders to make sound decisions about sustainable
design. This is due in part to the complexity of the
sustainability issues and lack of a comprehensive
decision-making tool to assist in the process (Ahmed,
2001). Consequently such constraint has made the
venture less attractive until recently. Actually,
overtime, beaches face enormous challenges in the
form of pollution, weather problem, degradation and
overcrowding. The pollution (part of which poses
health risks to tourists) results from population growth
and increased development of coastal areas. In order
to make beaches more favourable and conducive,
countries like the United Kingdom, Jamaica, Canada,
Poland and New Zealand have established a rating
system for beach health and safety; featuring
information on pollution, availability of safety
materials for the tourists and security. This is
exemplified by the Blue Flag Campaign which started
in Europe in 1987 (Blue Flag Campaign, 2004).
Nonetheless, reconciling environmental quality and
tourism development has been the target of much
literature (Holden, 2000).
James (2000) has made an attempt in classifying
beaches. He identified ethnic, shared, intensive and
conservative beaches in his classification. The ethnic
beaches are situated in indigenous or strongly
traditional areas and are characterized by
infrastructure built with traditional architecture and
materials while shared beaches have two or more
simultaneous coastal activities, tourism being one of
them. Intensive beaches are focused on the leisure
experience of the tourists. Their main features are high
beach-user density, long tourist season, strong
infrastructure and facilities, and wide tourist services
while conservative beaches are focused on environmental
quality and protection of high natural values.