Assessment of the impact of hospitality and tourism marketing in Nigeria economy

Abstract

The impact of hospitality and tourism on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a nation cannot be over-emphasized. However, tourism is expected to be a significant contributor to country’s GDP in the future and have impacts on infrastructural development. This study investigated theimpact of hospitality and tourism marketing on Nigeria economy. The area of study covers two (2) tourist centers each from Lagos State and Cross River State in Nigeria respectively. The study employed primary datacollected in ensuring that valuable data were obtained for the data analysis. A total number of one hundred and twenty (120) copies of questionnaire were administered to staff of the selected tourist Centers for which (80) returned was used for analysis. After cleaning and sorting the copies of the accepted questionnaires they were fed into the statistical package for social science (SPSS). The questionnaire was structured in line with the research objectives, questions and hypothesis of the study. The Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to confirm formulated hypotheses. Among the findings were that hospitality and tourism have poor contribution on Nigeria economy GDP. Also, tourism marketing skills of Nigeria is below average. The study concluded that if tourism sector is properly harnessed it will generate reasonable revenue to government, and recommended that government should provide adequate funds through budgetary allocation and financial aids to tourism Management for effective promotion of tourism in the states.