Enhancing Nigerian Tourism through Effective Destination Promotion Strategies

The assignment content highlights the need for Nigeria to develop a sustainable tourism industry, which requires effective destination promotion strategies to overcome threats such as insecurity. The government needs to take initiatives to improve security, infrastructure, and showcase the country's potential through festivals and easy entry systems for tourists.

CURRENT ISSUE IN TOURISM
MANAGEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Travel and tourism is one of the fastest growing industries due to increasing needs and
demand of customers. For this, most of the firms are adopting better promotional strategies
through which they can easily attain higher competitive advantage. In this regard, the present
study is developed on the basis of case study of Nigeria as well as its current issues related to
tourism. Nigeria is suffering from number of intra and interstate conflicts. However,
government of country has started several tourism development programs related to the
wildlife conservation, museum as well as development of accommodations and other
facilities in the areas of outstanding beauty. There are some of the major issues related with
the Nigeria are the tourism industry of country operates under below all the international
standards as well, Crisis in country, Poor planning and corruption, Lack of security, Poor
means of transportation, Technology and information dissemination, Globalization etc.
In order to overcome with the insecurity threats government requires taking several
security challenges and looking deeply into the issues. It is the most effective way through
which they can find out the lasting resolution to this carnage (Mustapha, 2001). In addition to
this, it can also be stated that government should also look into the issue regarding
sophisticated weapons to suppress the crisis are lacking in the country. It is the major areas of
insecurity.
Nigeria requires developing a destination marketing strategy for a destination that
normally evolves from the broad recommendations of the tourism plan. Nigeria is a local
tourism body with having all the poor resources with minimal tourists and visitors. Here,
Nigeria can effectively develop a successful marketing campaign that will create a
recognizable brand and attract huge base of visitors. In order to develop their market, a series
of effective marketing strategies must be adopted by them with the emergence of new
customer segment and digital technologies as well.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE.........................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................................................1
'Destination Promotion' strategies utilized by 'Nigeria' to overcome the threat of insecurity in
country........................................................................................................................................3
CASE STUDY...........................................................................................................................4
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS..............................................................................................4
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................6
RECOMMENDATIONS...........................................................................................................6
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................8

TITLE
How can effective 'Destination Promotion ' strategies be utilized by 'Nigeria' to overcome
the threat of insecurity in the country
INTRODUCTION
Tourism can be defined as one of the most effective sectors of economy that has a
global importance. In today’s globalized world, change is constant and tourism tends to
improve the economy of third world countries (Parida, 2008). There are several international
firms who support the tourism for its contribution towards the peace of world as well as
poverty and also intermingling of people and culture.
Travel and tourism is one of the fastest growing industries due to increasing needs and
demand of customers. For this, most of the firms are adopting better promotional strategies
through which they can easily attain higher competitive advantage. In this regard, the present
study is developed on the basis of case study of Nigeria as well as its current issues related to
tourism (Ghimire, 2013). This also defines the effectiveness of destination promotion
strategies that are utilized by Nigeria in order to overcome with the increasing threats in
country. This determines that there is high level of security threats in Nigeria due to which
tourism is highly affected.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Tourism is the business through which companies can provide and facilitate
appropriate pleasure for the travellers. According to Hawkins and Mann (2007), tourism is a
recreation activity and most of the firms nowadays are trying to acquire some of the best
strategies through which they can enhance their country’s tourism. According to Ahunwan
(2002), Nigeria is rich in both ecology and culture and they also provide a good setting for
the evolution of various cultural heritage base tourism facilities for the country.
Current State of Tourism Industry in Nigeria
Nigeria is the largest country of Africa which is having almost 370 ethnic groups and
over 140 million people which constitutes one seventh of the continent’s population. They are
rich in heritage as well as culture of country (Beirman, 2003). Here, attractions for tourists
are both natural and cultural which also includes an excellent climate with sunshine year
round. Nigeria is a quite developing country as it is the biggest country of Africa. They have
gained independence from Britain in the year 1960 and from here onwards, Nigeria tourism
board (NTB) was officially recognized as a potential economic activity. However, on-going
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political instability as well as series of military dictatorships has meant that developing a
tourism industry was largely neglected. Further, they are facing various threats which
insecure them towards their tourism development.
It has been identified from the case study of Smith (2003), Nigeria is suffering from
number of intra and interstate conflicts. However, government of country has started several
tourism development programs related to the wildlife conservation, museum as well as
development of accommodations and other facilities in the areas of outstanding beauty. In
addition to this, there are some of the major constraints which have limited the growth of
tourism in this country as well. Brown and Hall (2008) stated that there are several tourism
attractions but that are totally dispersed over large areas and road linkages are insufficient.
Due to this factor, majority of tourists in this country faces serious transportation problems
and it develops a negative brand image in the minds of customers. It is the major reason due
to which overall business gets affected as the brand image of nation is highly affected.
According to Okpoko (2006), there are some of the major threats of insecurity in country
such as widespread poverty. Africa is among the nations with lowest GDP as well as high
poverty rate. In this, the whole tourism of country is highly affected due to increasing crime
rates. Tourists feel unsafe and do not prefer to visit on this country. Further, the current state
of Nigeria can be defined as follows:
 Nigerian government has failed to set a comprehensive and well-coordinated agenda
for tourism development.
 The tourism industry of country operates under below all the international standards
as well.
 Crisis in country
 Poor planning and corruption
 Lack of security
 Poor means of transportation
 Technology and information dissemination
 Globalization
There are basically three sustainability components i.e. economic, socio-cultural as well
as environmental.
Economic sustainability: According to Dieke (2013) tourism is considered as a
major element of the service economy. Tourism gives a result of its sustained and rapid
growth in the world economy. Further, it can be define that the Nigeria requires maintaining
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the appropriate strategy for the sustainable tourism development so that they can reach out to
their economic development as well.
Socio-cultural sustainability: These are mainly two different terms i.e. socio and
other is culture. According to Bruyere, Beh and Lelengula (2009) socio-cultural sustainability
is the act of maintaining and safe guarding the rank and status of the society. As per this,
Nigeria requires to keep all their living soul equal and no difference need to be made on the
basis of the community they belong as well as language they speak.
Environmental sustainability: It can be determined that natural environment is highly
essential for tourism development which is a subject to the maintenance. In this, there can be
a negative impact of tourism and it requires appropriate contribution of the government as
well as planning for tourism and recreation (Schott, 2010).
'Destination Promotion' strategies utilized by 'Nigeria' to overcome the threat of insecurity
in country
All the above given threats are becoming the major concerns for Nigeria and they are
developing various strategies through which they can overcome with all these threats. In
order to manage their tourism development, it is quite essential for them to adopt some of the
best destination promotion strategies (Brysk, 2002). It is the most effective way through
which they can easily overcome with the threats of insecurity in country. However,
promotion and advertisements is the best way which helps this country in making their
worldwide presence effectively.
Nigeria requires developing a destination marketing strategy for a destination that
normally evolves from the broad recommendations of the tourism plan. Nigeria is a local
tourism body with having all the poor resources with minimal tourists and visitors. With the
help of successful destination marketing, potential visitor’s destination choice can be
influenced. According to Ghimire (2013) destination branding is a key element for the
promotion of any place. Here, Nigeria can effectively develop a successful marketing
campaign that will create a recognizable brand and attract huge base of visitors. In order to
develop their market, a series of effective marketing strategies must be adopted by them with
the emergence of new customer segment and digital technologies as well. In this concern,
destination marketing plan should consider the most appropriate marketing direction of
higher or complementary entities. Parida (2008) stated that policies of the government in
Nigeria are very poor and due to this the type of policy made by government can either
improve the growth of tourism or not. They require taking appropriate actions regarding
corporate governance, funding as well as growth and development of the tourism.
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According to Meduna, Ogunjinmi and Onadeko (2009), an integrated promotional
strategy should be established that contained various promotion methods. Nigeria should
design their promotion methods in order to maintain positive relationship with the
destinations and its tourism offerings. In addition to this, they require to promote a right
message to their specific target market customers.
CASE STUDY
The present study is based on the Nigeria’s tourism development’s case study. It helps
in determining several possible strategies be utilized by 'Nigeria' to overcome the threat of
insecurity in the country. On the basis of this, the whole study takes place as Nigeria is one of
the biggest countries of Africa. But still, they are facing several issues in relation to their
tourism development. Some of the major reasons behind this are the crises in country. Due to
the increasing crises and terrorism people do not prefer to visit on such place. Further, there is
lack of security which might leads to develop threat in their mind-set as well inappropriate
transportation systems. These are some of the major reasons due to which this case study is
taken into consideration. It gives appropriate findings about the economic, social as well as
environmental benefits and challenges. On the basis of this, appropriate recommendations
will be developed so that sustainable tourism can be developed and maintained.
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
From the overall discussion it has been concluded that security is the major threat for
the Nigeria’s tourism development. The total tourism potential in Nigeria includes holiday
resorts, eco-tourism assets, heritage/culture, adventures/safari, beaches and lakesides as well
as several sports activities. These are the major areas of tourism due to which they are able to
attract large pace of visitors. However, currently, the country is facing several threats related
to securities due to increasing terrorism. It is the major reason which highly affected the
country’s tourism. The whole above section analysed that Africa is a developed country for
business class people as there is a huge scope of business as well. The majority of Nigeria’s
foreign arrivals are business travellers and it is the major lead for their tourism development.
These are some of the major current challenges faced by them (Buhalis, 2000). On the top of
these challenges, Nigeria has been crippled by the lack of accurate statistics on arrivals and
departure. It is quite essential for Nigeria to keep the record of their inbound as well as
outbound tourism. The domestic tourism of country is largely unorganized and it must be
developed due to increasing insecurities of tourism in Nigeria. One of the major challenges
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faced by country is that Nigerians are too poor to vacation and it has not developed a culture
of tourism over there (Bruyere, Beh and Lelengula, 2009).
By effectively selecting their destination promotional strategy 'Nigeria' can overcome the
threat of insecurity in the country. Nigeria do not have an effective security system due to
which there are rapidly increasing number of cases such as kidnapping, robbing, killing,
bombing as well as crises in both internal and external environment (Ghimire, 2013). Here, it
has been founded that these are some of the major threats due to which local population of
Nigeria is highly threaten than that of tourists. It has been identified that insecurity in the
country is getting out of hand and people do not prefer to visit. In addition to this, it is being
determined that country is no longer safe as the viewpoint of people and they are afraid
regarding their protection and policy. For this, Nigerian board need to take appropriate steps
to frame suitable policies through which such crimes cannot be easily takes place. It is being
identified that a total perception of the nation is unsafe because of high crime rates. Further,
the tourism development hinders due to frequent political, religious and ethnic disturbances.
It is being identified that both private and government investors still lacks in packaging
tourism products (Sharma, 2005). Due to this, earning from tourism has been very low and it
identifies the accountability of only three percent of all the international travels in Africa in
the year from 1998 to 2003. There are several economic, social and environmental
benefits/challenges for the tourism of Africa as well as Nigeria. The major and current issues
faced by them are related to socio-economic conditions of country.
In addition to this, it has been founded that Destination promotion concerns the
allocation of efforts in different methods of promotion as well. Nigeria is most likely to
achieve certain objectives through which they can easily develop their country’s tourism.
Therefore, it is a quite challenging task for them to select the optimum combination of
methods for the promotion of Nigeria (Ghimire, 2013). Due to all the threats which are
leading insecurity within their country requires to set their tourists life cycle which
determines:
Emergent>Growth>Stagnation>Decline
These are the time periods where countries must have to take appropriate marketing
initiatives. At this time, through appropriate destination promotion strategy, country can
easily communicate all their tourists’ areas and develop appropriate awareness about their
nation as well as their development activities. It develops a level of interest among tourists
and they can demand for visiting such places as well.
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Due to this factor, government of Nigeria requires to take several security steps by
enforcing high police command in the non-volatile areas. Further, they can keep several
security cameras on those places where high crimes take place. In this respect it can be
determine that government needs to take all the appropriate actions and develop strict laws as
well as policies regarding such crimes. Further, it is being stated that the insecurity in the
country needs attention and due to this the government requires to take several security
challenges and look deeply into the issues. It is the most effective way through which they
can find out the lasting resolution to this carnage (Mustapha, 2001). In addition to this, it can
also be stated that government should also look into the issue regarding sophisticated
weapons to suppress the crisis are lacking in the country. It is the major areas of insecurity.
Moreover, transportation mode requires to be improved by the way of building new roads so
that people feels comfortable to travel.
Moreover, there are some of the best ways through which they can promote their
destination. For this, they can start a campaign such as India has started “Incredible India”
where they have served all the positive things about the country and reasons why people
choose to travel in India (Brysk, 2002). Such like this campaign, Africa’s government can
also take an initiative to develop such campaign so that people get aware about their country
and tourism can be enhanced.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been concluded that Nigeria requires developing
sustainability in their tourism by adopting the best destination promotion strategy. It can
prove to be very successful strategy utilized by 'Nigeria' to overcome the threat of insecurity
in the country if appropriate strategies will be developed. Better country promotional
campaign takes place and however this sector needs a serious development to reach out more
number of people. The major threat is related to the insecurity due to the increasing terrorism
as well as crises. Further, it has been concluded that government is taking several initiatives
for effective destination promotion through which more number of tourists are attracted
towards the country.
RECOMMENDATIONS
In order to tackle socio economic problems associated with Nigerian tourism requires
appropriate cooperation of all the stakeholders. Further, one of the major recommendations is
that they need to develop a long term tourism development master plan. It requires proper
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implementation for sustainable development. In the Nigerian tourism development master
plan of 2006, tourism diversification strategies are one of the most effective strategies
through which they can enhance the development within the tourism industry. In addition to
this, it is essential to develop specialists in the planning and implementation of tourism
development project. Another major recommendation is related to the Nigerian Tourism
board (NTB) as well as the ministry of the environment. They should by fully charge with
appropriate responsibility so that they can provide appropriate facilities for local and
international tourists. However, federal government of Nigeria stated that determination will
be achieved by forecasting investment and supporting the provisions of accessible
infrastructure. There are various recommendations such as:
Security and safety: It is the most important concern when it comes to tourism
operation and implementation in country. Proper security and safety mechanism should be
placed in the country regarding all forms of security such as kidnapping, killing, armed
robbery, and bombing including crises in both internal and external environment.
Government should take all the proper initiatives for the safety of people so that it will be a
great contributor to the success of development of tourism in the country.
Provision of infrastructure: It is the effective way to encourage all class of people to
participate in tourism irrespective of their situations. In this way, it is essential for
government to ensure the provisions of basic amenities such as electricity, good water, roads
as well as appropriate communication system.
Showcasing tourism potential: The government of country should empower the
Ministry of culture and tourism in order to organise an annually festivals. It is the most
prominent source to call other countries by organizing annual festivals. Here, different states
can represent their tourism potential and attract huge base of visitors as well.
Easy entries for tourists: It is another most effective recommendation which ensures
fast growth and development in the tourism industry. Here, the country tourism needs to be
marketed worldwide and international trade fairs etc. Visas and permit issuance should be
made easy and flexible so that number of tourists can be increased.
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