Thursday, January 13, 2011

THE ECONOMICS OF TOURIST ATTRACTION CENTRES IN NIGERIA: A CASE OF KANO ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN

THE ECONOMICS OF TOURIST ATTRACTION CENTRES IN NIGERIA:
A CASE OF KANO ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN





BY
Dr. MUSTAPHA MUKTAR
mmuktar75@yahoo.com
Department of Economics Bayero University Kano-Nigeria
PMB 3011, Kano.


















1.1 Introduction
In Nigeria about 12.6% of the total population undertook special trips to observe wild animals either in game reserves or in designated zoological gardens. Undertaking such trips results in substantial economic expenditures, although a lot of studies have explained the activities of tourism industry, relatively few of these studies focused on the economics of zoological garden.
The purpose of this study therefore is to find the economic gains associated with zoological garden, and to investigate the economic impact of visitors on the businesses around Kano zoological garden. It has been observed that the local businesses have made efforts to satisfy the demand of visitors especially during peak periods (Sallah festivals, Christmas and Ester holiday).

1.2 Methodology and Study area
The methodology that is adopted in the course of gathering data for this study is the use of interview to collect information. An interview was conducted with 206 people, only visitors of over 16 years of age were interviewed, this is so in order to get a qualitative response. The interview was conducted to get information on expenditures for travel feeding and other activities like photography. Data was analyzed with the help of tables graphs, proportions and other statistical tools. Another interview was conducted with the officials of the Garden on their activities and revenue generated.

Kano state was created in July 1967 out of the defunct northern region. It covered a total area of 20,760 square kilometers; it lies in the tropical wet and dry climatic zones. Falgore game reserve measuring about 36 km along kano – jos road is the larges forest in the state. It serves as game reserve and tourist attraction center.
Kano zoological Garden is located 3km away from the old city of Kano nationally renowned for its tourist attraction especially during peak period. charismas celebration. Nearly 4000 visitors are recorded monthly. The local community that surrounds Kano zoo receives most of the benefits of tourism associated with the garden. The activities of the garden are however controlled by the state Ministry of Transport and tourism.

2.1 The need for tourism in Nigeria
The Nigerian Government in her quest to diversify her mono-cultural economy, which is heavily dependent on petroleum export, has decided to take some measures to
Promote travel and tourism. The measures include the establishment of the National Tourism Policy (NTP) in 1990, the birth of the Nigerian Tourism Development
Corporation (NTDC) in 1992, the founding of the National
Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), in Bagauda, Kano, and the National travel Bureau (NTB), a tour operating company of NTDC, (NTDC (2001)) the adoption of a Tourism master plan and National Tourism Council with the President as chairman. The aims of these
measures can be summarized as follows:
 i. To make Nigeria the ultimate Tourism destination in
Africa and;
ii. To make Tourism one of the greatest foreign exchange
earners in an oil dependent economy.
With a population of about 120million people made of about
300 ethnic groups, a vast land of about 1million sqkm, a beautiful coastland of about 835km, a rich diversity of cultural and ecological resources, Nigeria appears destined to be indeed the “Giant” of Africa as far as tourism is concerned.

2.2 Classification of tourism
 Traditional Cultural Tourism: Museum, art galleries, cultural, religious and national festivals,  historical monuments, natural features such as sites
and buildings, arts and crafts.
 Ecological Tourism: Geological / geophysical / geomorphological features, (mountains, waters, falls,  springs, beaches, national parks, games/forest reserves, botanical / zoological gardens etc.
 Notable modern Features and Facilities:
Hydroelectric power, dams, oil rigs, sporting facilities and other notable engineering structures. Travel and Accommodation Facilities, Tourism Centers and
agents, and other related data to tourism

3.1 Result and Discussion
68% of the respondents are male while only 32% are female their average age was 26 years. Their educational qualification ranges from informal education, primary school certificate to postgraduate qualifications. 10% of the visitors are foreigners while the rest are Nigerians.

Table 1: Types of Animals Kept at Kano zoological garden

Source: Kano zoological Garden, 2006
The above table shows some of the animals that can be found in Kano zoological garden, one can observe that mammals like tiger, elephant and other wild animals are absence completely, this is due to the fact that the species of these animals are scarce globally and that the cost of managing them is high.

Services offered at the zoo includes recreational activities of animal watching, and a recreational centre is provided were people can rent it and organize parties/get together, other activities include horse/camel riding and photography. In addition to this there’s a separate department that deals with educational matters in case of educational visits and other related matters.

Table 2: Average Number of Visitors during Peak periods

Months
Number of people

November 2005
16,000

December 2005
8,925

January 2006
15,223

April       2006
7,345


Source : Kano zoo 2006

November 2006 recorded the highest number of visitors during 2005/2006 period and this is the Sallah period ( Eid – el – fitr), next to it is the other Sallah period (Edeil – Kabir) that is January 2006 which recorded a total visitors of 15,223. Christmas of year 2005 is also among the peak periods that recorded a gate visits if 8,925 and lastly is the ester holiday in April 2006. it can be seen that the two Sallah festivals recorded the highest number of gate visits as compared to other peak periods, this is perhaps due to the culture and religion of the study area where most of the local people are Muslims and hence fully observe the Sallah festivals.
For the non peak period however, the average number of visitors is 130 daily and 1,200 weekly.

Table 3: Gate Fee charged @ Kano zoological garden

Category
Amount (N)
Children
30
Adults
50
Commercial Photographers
100

 Source Kano zoo, 2006
The table above shows the gate fees charged by at the entrance, while it is only N30 for children Adults on the other hand are charged higher, if one is going along with camera he has to pay additional N50. Commercial photographers paid  N100 daily if they  a  re to enter and snap  shots.

3.2 Estimated Daily Revenue generated
Using the above figure for the non peak period the daily revenue is estimated to be N5000 and all things being equal for a month it will be N150, 000 this figure is only the gate fee paid by individuals on entrance if the amount paid for other services like camel and horse riding is include then monthly revenue is estimated at N286, 120

3.3 The informal business around Kano zoological Garden
Observation shows that the refreshments and food served to visitors was supplied by informal businesses surrounding the zoo, on the average visitors especially during peak periods spends 60% of their total expenditure on feeding, refreshments and related purchases. The localization of the zoo along the area have attracted small scale businesses like provision stores, cafeterias, joints, boutiques, photo studios, traditional medicine men and the like. By and large it has made the area to be terminus where busses and taxis parade and hence earn income; the area has also been a rendezvous were cultural activities like local wrestling, and dances took place especially during peak periods.  


3.4 Problems faced by Kano zoological Garden.
Like any other government establishments Kano zoological garden suffered the fundamental problem of lack of infrastructures, the recreational centre is decaying and not utilized, the absence of wild animals like tiger and elephant is another problem, there is also lack of qualified personnel for the smooth running of the zoo, attached to these problems is in adequate finance as all the above problems can be overcome if there is sufficient funds for the running of the zoo.

4.1 Conclusion and recommendations
Kano zoological Garden has served the function of being one of the recreational centre in Northern Nigeria and the country at large it had attracted a lot of informal businesses that sustained a lot of people. Its future of is bright provided it receives due attention, and it can be a strong source of internal revenue to the state Government. It is recommended that the state government should look at the possibility of repairing and maintaining the dilapidated infrastructures. There is also the need to provide government owned restaurant inside. If this is done then the gate fee can also be raised to a higher amount and hence more revenue will be generated.

4.2 References:
Ayemo O O and etal (2005) “Developing a multimedia GIS data base for tourism industry in Nigeria” a technical report , Abuja.

Fillion F L(1988) “Managing for sustainable development: The strategic role of social aspects of wildlife” paper presented @ international wildlife symposium, Acapulco, Mexico.
Nigerian Planet (2004) “Tourism in Nigeria”, http//www.Nigerian planet. Com /htm.

Randal A (1987)”The total value dilemma:Towards the measurement of total economic value” in Peterson G L and Sorg C F, eds US foreign service general Technical report RM – 148:3 – 13.

Sani B.M. and Sulaiman S. (2005) “The Structure of Kano Economy”. http//www.kanoonline.com/


The author thank Muhd. Aminu Fagge and Lawan Jinjiri of Kano zoological Garden



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