Tourists’ Assessment of Sustainable Ecotourism Development: A Case Study of National Children’s Park and Zoo, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

The study of tourists’ assessment of sustainable ecotourism development was carried out in National Children’s Park and Zoo, Abuja, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used to select one hundred and ten (110) tourists over 18 years which made up the respondents for the study. One hundred and ten (110) copies of questionnaire were administered to the respondents. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency, percentage, mean and presented as tables, graphs and charts. The results revealed that the highest number of respondents (64.55%) got to know about the zoo from family and friends while the least (1.82%) from television and radio each. The majority of the respondents (36.36%) are visiting the Zoo for the first time, 28.18% are visiting for the second time while the least number of respondents (2.73%) are visiting for the sixth time. The highest number of respondents (56.36%) visited the Zoo for the purpose of Leisure/Recreation, 27.27% visited for the purpose of meetings, 10% for holiday, and 6.36% for Research/Education. The results also revealed that 67.27% of the respondents were satisfied with their visit to the Zoo, 19.09% were indifferent, and 13.64% were not satisfied. Majority of the respondents (70.91%) would visit the Zoo again and a very high proportion of the respondents (90%) would recommend the Zoo to others. It is therefore recommended that more funds should be allocated to the National Children’s park and zoo to help get new facilities to attract more tourists and employ more skilled staff.