ASSESSMENT OF THE POTENTIALS OF CULTURAL AND ECOTOURISM RESOURCES FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess the potentials of cultural and ecotourism resources for achieving sustainable tourism planning and development in Adamawa State. The specific objectives of the study are to identify and characterize cultural attributes that have tourism potentials in communities, what are the ethnic community participation in recreation and tourism activities. In-depth interviews, focus group discussion (FGD’s) and structured interview were adopted to generate data for the research. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square for significance difference. The research identified enormous cultural tourism resources: festivals and ceremonies, rites of passage, belief and value system, songs, music and dance, traditional architecture and art and crafts. The major cultural activities are hukdafu, yawal, zeko, mbapur warrior festival, sukah-hawah dance, similalama, fare, lakaune, mbur, Ndihee, mputa kluttu, mba, tiwi, sari-mata-koken and wee-sim. Sukur and Michika have a unique architectural stone wall building that surrounds their compounds. Results showed that communities differ in their perception of the role of media, security, tour guide, attraction, transport and accommodation, while they do not differ in their knowledge of leisure, number of hours, visits to recreational areas and knowledge of ecotourism variables. Community anticipated benefits as a result of the development of tourism projects are physical development, economic, social and political benefits. It recommended the need for government and private investors to explore these potentials and proper intermediaries should be put in place by both state and local government for the full utilization of these tourism resource potentials in Adamawa State.