Assessment of Tourists’ Perception of Okomu National Park as an Eco-Tourism Destination, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed tourists’ perception of Okomu National Park as an eco-tourism destination. Tourists’ destinations can be a place or a resort where tourists go and stay or it could be an area or country in where a visitor stays and travels. Data for this study were collected from primary and secondary sources. Results from this study shows that their trip motivations are attraction oriented with game viewing extremely important to their visitation. This study therefore recommended that, Okomu National Park in conjunction with other governmental bodies should fashion out a process to facilitate community empowerment with a view to diverting the attention of the inhabitants of the surrounding communities from illegal logging, which most of them depend on. Thus, to meet the needs and the satisfaction of the eco-tourists, continuous research in these areas is important, particularly in emerging ecotourism markets like Nigeria.