Unveiling the Dilemma of Sustainable Tourism Development in Nigeria: A Study of Agbowa, Ikorodu, Lagos State

Abstract

Tourism generally is about the movement of people from one location to another, it is essentially a movement for the purpose of recreation or socialization. Agbowa is one of the major towns in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State that is rich and endowed with a sizeable number of tourists’ destination sites, activities and programs, which therefore provide a great opportunity for tourism development which is an attempt to further complement other economic, social, environmental related available job opportunity. Thus, this article aimed at unveiling the dilemma of tourism development in Nigeria and proffer possible solutions, using Agbowa locality of Ikorodu, Lagos as special case. To unveil these dilemmas data was collected from 120 respondents using the questionnaire method to elicit sustainable tourism development data from the perception of respondents. Accidental sampling technique was used to administer the 120 questionnaires in order to achieve the objectives of the study from respondents (visitors and residents) and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings emanating from the study identified poor funding, low publicity, poor quality of personnel, lackluster transport service, and security as constraints are the major dilemmas affecting sustainable tourism development in the host community. The study therefore recommended that there is need to encourage public private partnership (PPP); increasing publicity and awareness; improve security and safety and provision of good accommodation and transportation. The study concluded that with the public involvement and private sector participation and the provision of enabling environment, sustainable tourism development can be achieved in Agbowa township of Ikorodu, Lagos State, Nigeria.