CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

World Tourism Organization (WTO, 2000) describes tourism as the temporary

movement of people to destinations outside their normal place of residence, for more than 24
hours with no intention of remunerations from point en-route the destination. Tourism
according to Mckean (2007) is profound human desire to know others with the reciprocal
possibility that we may come to know ourselves, a quest or an odyssey to see and perhaps to
understand the whole inhabited earth.” jafari (2007) state that tourism is “The study of man
away from his usual habitat of the industry which responds to his needs and the impact that
both he and the industry have on the host socio-cultural and physical environment”.
Microsoft Encarta 2009 describes tourism as a travel to benefit from a particular service or
activity that is unavailable at home. According to the British Tourist Authority’s definition,
“Tourism is a stay of one or more nights away from home for holidays, visitation to friends or
relatives, business conferences or any other purpose except such things as boarding education
or semi permanent employment”.(Marketing Fact Book, 2003).

Falade (2003), state that tourism is any activity that voluntarily or temporarily takes a
person from his usual place of residence, in order to satisfy a need of pleasure, excitement,
experience and relaxation. Conceptually, tourism is borne out of the desire for leisure
activity, which entails a discretionary use of time, money and recreation tourism includes
some travel but not all travel is tourism. In tourism, money earned in one’s normal domicile
is spent in the places visited and on the way to these places. Tourism is thus, a multi-faceted
activity and geographically complex, as different services are sought and supplied at different
stages from the origin to the destination. Thus, in any country or region, “There is likely to be
a number of origins and destinations, with most places having both generating (origin) and
receiving (destination) functions” (Pearce, 2009).

Tourism can be a vehicle for international understanding by way of bringing diverse

people face to face. It has been cited as a major contributor to international goodwill and as a
prime means of developing social and promote friendship and goodwill. Tourism can greatly
enrich and cultural understanding among all people of the world. Tourism can greatly enrich
and promote friendship and goodwill. There is a mingling of cultures, which has positive
effects. Tourism is a huge global industry. If commercial travel is included, it is perhaps the
world’s largest. It is a major component of many local and national economies. It has been
seen as an agent for peace, an agent of social disruption, a means for transferring money from
richer to poorer nations, a form of neocolonialism, a mechanism to find conservation, or a
Trojan horse which infiltrates destructive industrial development into the world’s few
remaining wilderness. A key component in most tourism is change; a change in scenery in
tastes, in lifestyle, in surroundings, in companions; a change from the work a day, for
recreation in its literal sense (Ralf Buckley, 2000). Tourism helps to break prejudices, barriers
and suspicions that exist between nations. In the long run the most important contribution of
tourism is enriching mutual understanding among people, their varied cultures and lifestyles.

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 Out of all the elements of tourism, culture has been the main pull factor which
influences visitors‟ initial decision to travel to destinations in different parts of the world.
Thus, in most regions of the world, particularly in Europe and North America, cultural
attractions have become important in the development of tourism. At the global level, cultural
attractions are usually perceived as being icons of important streams of global culture
(Richards et al., 2006). Culture can be described as the patterns of behaviour and thinking
that people living in the social groups learn, create and share. Culture distinguishes one
human group from others. It also distinguishes human from other animals. People’s culture
include their beliefs, rules of behaviour, language, rituals, arts, technology, styles of dress,
ways of producing and cooking food, religion and political and economic systems (Redmond
et al, 2009).
Culture is the conditioning elements of behaviours and the products of the behaviours,
“consisting of 12 elements viz: handicrafts, language, traditions, gastronomy, art and music,
history, local work, architecture, religion, educational system, dress and leisure activities
(Mathieson, 2002). Sharply (2004) states that from a social and cultural perspective, the rapid
expansion of tourism is important in two respects: Firstly, the development of tourism as
vehicle for economic modernization and diversification almost invariably leads to change and
development in the structure of society. Secondly, all tourists, to a lesser or greater extent,
inevitably take on holidays according to their own beliefs, values and behavioural modes
(Sharply, 2004).

According Omotoba, 2014, tourism involves cultural exchanges and results in cultural
enrichment of those who travel as well as those at the receiving end. Cultural factors attract
tourists to destinations- architecture, sculpture, painting, historical monuments and
birthplaces of famous people- are often visited by tourists. Culture is tourism’s main
attraction – without culture to make the difference, every place would seem bluntly the same.
World Heritage Sites are nothing but cultural sites, such as the Pyramids in Egypt, the Tower
of London, the Great wall of China, the Taj Mahal etc. Cultural tourism (or culture tourism)
is the subset of tourism concerned with a country or region’s culture, especially its arts.
Cultural tourism includes tourism in urban areas, particularly historic or large cities and their
cultural facilities such as museums and theatres. It can also include tourism in rural areas
showcasing the traditions of indigenous cultural communities (i.e festivals, rituals), and their
values and lifestyle. It is generally agreed that cultural tourists spend substantially more than
standard tourists do. This form of tourism is also becoming immensely popular throughout
the world and a recent OECD report has highlighted the role that cultural tourism can play in
regional development across the globe.
Cultural tourism has enabled the countries to accord importance to the development of
cultural products intended for visitors and to the protection of natural environment. Tourism
destinations reinvent themselves for various reasons (Ashworth or Tunbridge, 2005). The
focus of cultural tourism is on culture, art, literature, history and architecture of a country.
Cultural tourism is a major tourism resource of any tourist destination. The importance of
preservation and management of cultural heritage has been realized as an increasing number
of tourists are visiting cultural attractions.

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1.1 Background of the Study

Traditional Nigerian settlements are structured according to their local custom and
practice. These settlements have emerged into urban areas over time. The traditional variables
become beacons for the city's structure which provide diverse opportunities for population
attraction and when preserved and conserved, will help in the city re-structuring and meeting
the future challenges of city development. Cities are known by their natural richness such as
topography and the water bodies while others are artificial which is of manmade such as the
city walls and monuments. These images are tourism potentials that when developed, makes
the city a place where people will live, work, move play and recreate.
In fact, most cities of the world including African countries are trying to gain global
recognition in destination and receipt, hence would want to sale them to the outside world by
exploringthose variables that help them in showing worthiness of destination so that
population can be attracted as a magnet for the city. Campbell and Maffini (2012) have also
stated that consumption pattern of tourism has constrained the growth of tourism demand, the
supply has only been expansion of competition based on quality of planning, competence of
personnel, level of services, price, location, additional amenities and varieties of happenings
which has become very crucial to healthy tourism trade. Even though tourism planning and
development in Osun cannot be said to be an effective programme, there is the need and
interest in the promotion of cultural tourism as seen portray by the twelve days array of
cultural festivals and activities in the state which is of international status/capacity.
This followed the notion by the Yoruba race that the ethnic group is found all over the
world as stated in the Osun state Tourism Policy are conscious of the Yoruba cultural
heritage and have done a lot to plan, conserve, preserve, promote and protect it. The state can
be reputed for its work of arts and crafts (Osun State Government 2012). This fact cannot be
disputed as it has been stated by the Government policy that Ile-Ife is one among the five
ancient cities in Africa that exist between 3000 and 1000 BC which is in the present day osun
State. It has been said that Oduduwa founded the Ile-Ife and was the son of Oludumare, the
supreme God of the Yoruba who is believed to would have descended from heaven on a
chain to create the earth and water. The mystical descending of Oduduwa in osun state
believe in some circles to be the origin of man, both white and black alike where all races of
the world sprang up according to the believe. The countries that are made up of the Yoruba
race are also listed in the Osun State Tourism Policy of the Government. There are mixed
reactions over these sites just as the policy could listed about sixty-three while Olajuku
(2011) said there are over one hundred sites/ monuments and attractions in osun state. This
was supported by the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding.
Oyeweso (2011) states that out of the world 816 heritage sites, properties identified by
UNESCO, two are in Nigeria namely Sukur cutural landscape in the MandaraMountains in
Adamawa state in 1999 and Osogbo Sacred Grove in Osun state approved in 2005.Osun
might not be the only state that is rich in cultural heritage in Nigeria but it will be of
importance for attempt to be made in Planning, development and promotion of such
attractions since it is seen as another key to socio-Economic development of a city. The Osun
state 2004-2007 rolling plan has incorporated Tourism into its SEEDS Programme document.

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 Ile- Ife, the cradle of the Yoruba race is located in the present day Osun State. The
uniqueness of Ile-Ife or simply Ife in Africa history manifested itself at many important levels
in the cosmology of the universe, the centre at which the first man was created or molded in
clay and given the breath of life. In spiritual terms Ife had been and remains a holy city, home
of Divinities (Orisa) of which the king the Oni is the living embodiment. At the political
level, the culture of the region Ile-Ife was the source, the centre from which the kings of the
numerous kingdom and empires including Oyo, Benin, Ketu etc were sent to rule. Ife remains
the source of the legitimacy of these and other rulers. From the point of view of the cultural
history of Africa, Ile-Ife was an early centre of urban tradition. The dynasty of Oduduwa and
other predynastic system before it centered on the Obatala, Orisa Nla are within a time span
of one thousand years or more. The art of Ife combines terracotta, bronze and stone
sculptures; these are done in life sizes or naturalistic styles.

The Ife terracuttas represents kings, Queens and commoners (even criminal and victims
of human sacrifices) all these are date to between 900AD and 1400AD. As in Nok terracottas
which depict animals (rams, elephants, hippos), articulation of beauty through body and
facial markings, dress for the body and depiction of kingly crowns bracelets and emblems of
royal and cultural authority. Ife goes beyond its terracotta’s medium the copper, brass/bronze
tradition of metal casting by the lost – wax or cire-perdue method has received extensive
publicity. Also prominent among Ife corpus is the stone sculptures. These include obelisks,
representations of humans and fish, stools and enigmatic of cult objects, the Ife stone
sculpture has northern dimensions especially in the little studied collections from Esure, some
100km. south of north-east of Ile-Ife sculpture have very important extensions in relation to
arts of Benin and Owo.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Cultural tourism in Nigeria is one of the very complex and rich aspects of our life,
which is not receiving the attachment or analyses it deserves (Lawan, 2001). Tourism has
always been seen as a veritable tool for development as its significance has been recognized
in the developed, developing and less developed countries, although managing cultural
resources has been a problem in their countries. Culture is a fluid and problematic concept to
deal with as it involves both ways of life, tangible and intangible expressions and
manifestation of society’s values and beliefs. Increasingly, various forms of intangible
heritages are being mobilized for tourism purposes and experiencing living heritage is a
particularly enriching experience for both tourist and the community. Tourists’ demand to see
cultural displays and rituals can thus produce conflict in local community over time
[UNESCO. 2006]. Tourism has always been a tool for economic development, but, for
developing countries, it is an increasingly important export as the economic, social and
environmental impact remains very uneven between and within developing countries.
Mass cultural tourism development is an attractive option precisely because it can
generate foreign currency quickly, particularly by relying on international town operators
who can access international markets easily. However, it has been highlighted by numerous
studies; there are serious drawbacks, to this according to UNESCO. First, it tends to shift the
power of development away from host government and communities towards the foreign

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operators and towns generating nations. This includes the power to terminate development
and switch investment to other destinations. Second, it tends to be limited spatially to
particularly attractive development sites and pristine environment and does not seek to
engage with problem zones and communities. Third, levels of investment tend to be directed
toward surface issues of aesthetic concern and the needs of lowest communities. Fourth,
economic returns to be restricted to short term gains in terms of employment in the tourist
sector and in related serious and this result in poorly paid and insecure jobs in the service
sectors and lastly, the culture of the host community is only marginally engaged in through
mass tourism. Because the emphasis of development is upon fixed and limited locations and
upon the provision of predominantly hedonistic activities, culture can often be reduced to
brief selection displays through limited interaction between host and guest [UNESCO. 2006].
There are abundant natural and cultural resources for tourism industry to flourish in Nigeria,
unfortunately, the organizational framework is still very weak and this aspect is too crucial to
be wished away, if we really want to promote stable tourist business in this part of the world.
The purposed against the background of collectivity orientation, which brings
together the government, the expert and the grass root people. It is wrong to assume that
government policies on tourism industry coupled with the expertise of archaeologists,
anthropologists, ethnologists, hoteliers and others will produce a positive result without
sincerely recognizing and appreciating the centrality of the grass root people. Indeed, much
of the tourism development efforts in Nigeria has failed to bring about result basically
because there remains a communication gap between the experts, on the one hand and the
people (the of most, if not all, these resources) on the other. In fact, there are still many
resources and /or potential tourist attractions in the rural setups, which are yet to be known,
let alone harnessed, by the government and its agents (Ogundele, 2001).
Different limitations has been affecting the development of cultural tourism in Osun
State and the country at large. The limitation ranges from the part of the government and the
Custodian of these cultural elements, no wonder, there seems to be not much work and
conference on the existence of some of the cultural tourists’ resources because of the wide-
gap between the government and host communities; It is against this backdrop that this study
assesses the socio-economic benefits of cultural tourism in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

1.3 Significance of the study

This research work is expected to serve as an eye opener for all categories of people
to know the socio-economic benefits of cultural tourism. The work is significant because it
will explain in details the significant impact of cultural tourism in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of the study

The main aim of this research work is to assess the socio-economic benefit of cultural
tourism in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The objectives of this research work are:

 To ascertain the significance of cultural tourism to sustainable development.

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  To assess the economic impact of cultural tourism in Ile-Ife, Osun State.
 To investigate the social benefits of cultural tourism in Ile-Ife, Osun State

1.5 Research Questions

The study attempted to provide answers to the following research questions:

 How significant is cultural tourism to sustainable development?

 To what extent has cultural tourism promote the economy of Ile-Ife, Osun State
 To what extent has cultural tourism impacted on the social life of the people of Ile-Ife,
Osun State

1.6 Research Hypothesis

The following hypotheses will be tested at 0.05 level of significance

Ho: Cultural tourism has no significant socio-economic benefits in Ile-Ife, Osun State.
H1: Cultural tourism has significant socio-economic benefits in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

1.7 Scope of the Study

The focus of the study is to assess the socio-economic benefits of cultural tourism in
Ile-Ife, Osun State. This is a perception study, with the broad aim of gathering information
from selected group of respondents within Ile-Ife, Osun State and using such information to
empirically measure the perceptions of residents of Ile-Ife on the socio-economic benefits of
cultural tourism in Ile-Ife, Osun State. The study therefore limited the sampled respondents
to clusters of the entire population of Ile-Ife, Osun Sate who have the socio-economic
(education, income, occupational etc) characteristics to be perceived as elite or having the
propensity to know the value of patronizing tourism products and services in Ile-Ife, Osun
State.

1.8 Limitation Of The Study

This study focuses only on the socio-economic benefit of cultural tourism in Ile-Ife,
Osun State and the limitation is as follows;

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in
sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data
collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other
academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

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1.9 Definition of Terms

Belief: This refers to the state of mind in which a person thinks something to be the case,
with or without there being empirical evidence to prove that something is the case with
factual certainty. Another way of defining belief sees it as a mental representation of an
attitude positively oriented towards the likelihood of something being true.

Cultural Tourism: Is the subset of tourism concerned with a country or region’s culture,
specifically the lifestyle of the people in those geographical areas, the history of those people,
their art, architecture, religion(s), and other elements that helped shape their way of life.

Culture: Culture is a word for people's 'way of life, meaning the way groups do things.
Different groups of people may have different cultures. A culture is passed on to the next
generation through learning.

Destination: the place to which a traveler is going. In the travel industry, any city, area, or
country which can be marketed as a single entity for tourists.
Norms: These are regarded as collective representations of acceptable group conduct as well
as individual perceptions of particular group conduct.

Patronage: The business or activities provided by patrons (tourists) in a destination which

generate revenue.

Residents: These are households residing in a particular area having a common interest in
benefiting from the use and management of these resources. This term is used
interchangeably with local people.

Socialization: the process by which, through contact with other human beings, one becomes
a self-aware, knowledgeable human being, skilled in the ways of a given culture and
environment.

Sustainable Development: Is development that meets the needs of the present, without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Tourism: This is an industry consisting of tourists, a business and an environment or local

community for operations.

Tourist: Someone who satisfies the conditions of travelling at least fifty miles from home for
any period of less than a year and that while they are away, they spend money in the place
they visit without earning it there.

Values: This can be defined as broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of actions
or outcomes.