Nigerian Tourism: A Catalyst for Sustainable National Development

Abstract

Tourism has become a driving force in the improvement of global economies and a substantial contributor to the world revenue. The main justification for tourism development across the countries of the world generally focuses on its potential for positive economic impacts. The UNWTO annual Report of 2012 indicated that tourism generates 5% of direct global GDP, 235 million jobs worldwide, 30% of the world export of services, 980 million international Tourists in 2011, and 103 billion US Dollars generated by tourists. And by the 2013 annual report, the industry had achieved an historical milestone, in which one billion people travelled in a single year of 2012. Hence, it is heralded as the world largest industry. Nigeria can no longer afford to be left out. It is on this note that this paper examined the tourism industry and its impacts at the global level, the Nigerian tourism and the numerous tourism resources therein. The challenges confronting the sector were identified, such as lack of adequate infrastructure, insecurity among others and it was also recommended that for the sector to be alive to its responsibility the issue of insecurity and infrastructural decadence among others must be addressed. For the purpose of this study, data were collected majorly from secondary sources, and the study was basically descriptive. The paper concludes that for sustainable national development, the Nigerian tourism sector must be repositioned to play its own part.