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Stock of tourist attractions in Nigeria

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2.3. Tourism in Nigeria

2.3.2. Stock of tourist attractions in Nigeria

The international tourists in Nigeria can be divided mainly into holiday and business. Leisure tourists enjoy cultural events, museums, historical sites and man-made attractions. Most of Nigeria‟s cultural assets relates to the cultural diversity of its people with about 370 ethnic groups, 4000 dialects and over 140 million people which constitutes one-seventh of the continent‟s population. Many cultural events take place at different times of the year across the country which attracts large number of visitors domestically and internationally. These cultural elements of Nigeria‟s tourism include: cultural events, religious activities, collection of arts and artifacts (in museums), ancient walls and buildings, and other historic sites.

Examples of cultural festivals in Nigeria include: Osun Festival; Argungu Fishing Festival;

Calabar Festival; Abuja Carnival; Eyo Festival; Ikeji Festival; Kwa-Ghir Festival; Rivers State Festival; Sharo Shadi Festival; Mmanwu Festival Enugu; Durbar Festivals; Awon Mass Wedding; Ovia Osese Festival; Igue Festival; Igunnuko Festival; Agemo Festival; Egungun (Masquerade) Festival; Oro festival; Yemoja Festival; and Obatala Festival.

Several major cities in the country have national museums. The prominent ones include: the National Museum in Lagos, the Esie Museum and the National War Museum. There are many historic sites in Nigeria that serve as tourist attractions, these include ancient walls and buildings and slave routes. Example of the slave route is Badagry Slave Routes. The walls and buildings include the city walls like Kano city wall, old buildings like the tallest old mud-brick building, palace of Emirs and Obas like The Oba's Palace in Benin; The Idoma Palace in Benue State; Emir of Katsina's Palace; Emir of Zaria's Palace in Kaduna State; The Emir of Kano's Palace; Alafin's Palace in Oyo State.

Concerning wildlife assets, there is a network of habitats, hedges, rivers and riverbanks for species to move through in Nigeria. These include: Yankari, Kainji, Cross River, Old Oyo National Park, Chad Basin, Ghashaka Gumti, Okomu and Kamuku National Parks. The wild-life based tourism assets include zoos, researves and parks. Examples include: Jos Wildwild-life

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Park, lkwe Wildlife Park; The Montare Game Reserve in Benue State; Kyarimi Park in Borno State; The Makurdi Zoo in Benue State; and Jos Zoological gardens.

Nigeria‟s natural tourism assets include physical structures like rock formation, rivers, oceans and lakes. The Ikogosi Warm Springs in Ekiti State, the Kainji Lake Park in Kwara State, the Mambilla Plateau in Adamawa State, the Obudu Cattle Ranch, the Owu Falls, the Olumo Rocks, the Idanre Hills in Ondo State. There are also many beaches in Nigeria. Examples include: Coconut Beach of Badagry, Bar Beach, Tarkwa Bay, Calabar Beach, Lekki Beach and Eleko Beach.

Man-made tourist attractions in Nigeria include: Trans Amusement Park, Oyo State; Water Parks, Lagos State; Frankid Amusement Park, Lagos State; Hills and Valleys Amusement Park, Kano State; Whispering Palms, Lagos State; International Youth Tourism Center, Plateau State; Seam Health Farm, Ogun State; Murtala Mohammed Botanical Garden, Lagos State; Helena Farms, Plateau State; Rojeny Toursim Village, Anambra State; Chama Park, Katsina State; Abuja Gardens, Abuja; UI Zoological Gardens, Oyo State; Audu Bako Zoo, Kano State; Obafemi Awolowo University Zoo, Osun State.

Conference/Business Tourism is a veritable area of tourism in which Nigeria is making wave among other countries in the world. There is an international conference centre located in the central business district area of Abuja, which can comfortably host any conference of international standard. The exquisite secretariat of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), located in Asokoro District of the FCT serves as the Administrative Headquarters of ECOWAS with facilities for international conference. The international conference centre, located along Herbert Macaulay Way at Garki District in Abuja, serves as venue for conferences, seminars and conventions. It has an auditorium with a sitting capacity of 2,000 and other smaller committee rooms with communication equipment and gadgets

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The main sources of international demand for Nigeria‟s tourism are shown in Panel A of Figure 2. The height of the bars represents the international tourists‟ arrivals in thousands. A tourist into Nigeria include any person visiting Nigeria for at least 24 hours and for a period not exceeding 12 months, and staying in collective or private accommodation. The international arrivals (given in terms of number of people) is different from international trips because during the course of one trip, there may be numerous visits to different countries which would then be recorded separately in the international arrivals figures of each country visited. Therefore, one international trip does not translate to one international arrival. The figures exclude same-day visitors; transit and cruise passengers; foreign people in paid employment; foreign students that stay in the country for a period of more than 12 months.

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The most important source of international tourism demand for Nigeria is United Kingdom.

International tourists‟ arrivals from UK increased from 99,900 people in 2000 to 144,600 people in 2009. This is followed by USA which accounted for 83,900 international tourists in 2000.

On the average, between 2004 and 2009, about 60 per cent of total international tourists‟

arrivals in Nigeria were for business purpose while the remaining 40 per cent were for holiday. For example, in 2004, 2007 and 2009 the number of people that visited for holiday purposes were 388,300, 451,400 and 461,700 respectively (Panel B of Figure 2).

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Figure 2. Trend of international demand for Nigeria’s tourism

Panel A: Mains sources of international demand for Nigeria’s tourism

Panel B: Trend of international demand for Nigeria’s business and holiday tourism

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