IMPACTS OF ROAD TRANSPORTATION ON TOURISM (A CASE STUDY OF SOME SELECTED TRANSPORT COMPANIES IN LAGOS)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

For the past decades, man has not been able to do with travelling. Travelling has however been a second nature for a high percentage of them. People travel for various reasons ranging from pleasure, relaxation, exploration, commerce, education events and for some, just for the fun of it.

Travelling dates back to the existence of man (Ashamu, 2007).Travelling for various purposes is associated with man (Walker and Walker, 2011).  He added that it was in the course of travelling, tourism was discovered. Right from the prehistoric period to the Neolithic age precisely between 4000 and 5000 B.C, individuals travelled for the purpose of their safety and to fend for their needs.

Many tourism-centred organizations and indeed the Nigerian’s tourism sector seem to have been subjected to underdevelopment following the effects of poor transportation for tourism development. Transport or transportation is the movement of people, animals and goods from one location to another.

Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field of transportation can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles and operations. Transport is important since it enable trades between peoples, which in turn establish civilization. Uche (2010) is of the view that vehicles travelling on these networks may include automobiles, bicycles, busses, trains, trucks, people, helicopters, and aircraft.

Operations deal with the way the vehicles are operated and the producers set for the purpose including financing, legalities and policies. In the transport industry, operations and ownership of infrastructure can be either public or private, depending on the country and mode.

Passenger transport may be public, where operation provide scheduled services or private freight transport has become focused on containerization, although bulk transport is used for large volumes of durable items. While it is heavily subsidized by governments, good planning of transport is essential to make traffic flow, and restrain urban sprawl.

The study will pay more attention to road transportation. Since 1960, Nigeria’s road transportation infrastructure has enjoyed the largest outlay of foreign investment compared with other modes and remains the preferred option for door to door linkage. Until recently, the policy initiative on road infrastructure development, funding, maintenance and even operations has been the sole responsibility of the various tiers of government.

The overall logistics infrastructure of a nation can be evaluated on the basis of ten categories of major metropolitan indices including: transportation and distribution industry; transport and distribution work force; road infrastructure; road congestion, road conditions, interstate highway accesses, vehicle taxes and fees, railroad access, water ports access and air cargo access.

Tourism is traveling for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people “traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”. Tourism has become a popular global leisure activity.

Tourism has become an important industry over the last few decades, and its economic impact, including direct, indirect, and induced effects, has been enormous. Based on a 2014 data set comprised of information from more than 180 countries, travel and tourism contributed $7,580.9 billion, which is equivalent to 9.8% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and provided 276,845,000 jobs, which is equivalent to 9.4% of total global employment.

Tourism’s economic contribution is predicted to increase to an estimated $11,381.9 billion in the coming years (10.5% of GDP), and activities from tourism are projected to add 356,911,000 jobs by 2025 (10.7% of total global employment) (WTTC 2015). Transportation is the of the most important factors that contributes to the success of the tourism industry (Page 2009, Palhares 2012).

According to Lamb and Davidson (2012), transportation is crucial in the tourism industry, as it connects supply (production) and demand (market) directly. The role of transportation in tourism is essentially to provide accessibility. It has been widely claimed by many scholars that without accessibility, tourism simply cannot take place (Chew 2013, Prideaux 2011).

Accessibility is not only defined as providing ability to tourists to reach destinations, but also by the use of transportation services at destinations once they arrive. These accessibility factors influence tourists’ impressions during their trip, and serve as determining factors of the destinations’ overall attractiveness (Le-Klähn and Hall 2015, Page and Connell 2014, Boopen 2014, Naudé and Saayman 2014, Gunn and Var 2011, Chew 2013, Robinson 2014).

Della Corte, Piras, and Zamparelli (2010) devised a complex scheme to assess the attractiveness of tourist destinations, termed the “Six A’s”, as follows: (i) Accessibility of the destination; (ii) Attractions, defined as the local sights that attract demand; (iii)

Accommodation structures; (iv) Amenities, or the services available at the destination (restaurants, theaters, etc.); (v) Assemblage, or the activity of tour operators/local actors to generate complex offers; and (vi) Ancillary services, which include the activities of incoming agencies, local institutes, and supporting organizations.

Among these factors, accessibility is stressed as the fundamental element that determines the destination’s position in the market. This study is on the impact of road transportation on tourism development in Nigeria done to unveil the hindrances to, and prospects in tourism in Nigeria vis-à-vis a workable transport system.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The deplorable state of Nigeria roads keeps posing a challenge on the success of tourism in Nigeria. Many tourists are discouraged due to the bad states of our roads. Some on imagining the risks of traveling on bad roads coupled with the after-effect of it, on after such trips feel discouraged. Due to this, investors are discouraged from visiting tourist sites in Nigeria.

In addition, poor management of our transport system contributes to the problem of transportation in the tourism industry. The road transport companies of Nigeria have limitations ranging from employment of incompetent drivers, continued usage of worn out vehicles with worn out parts and poor services when it comes to the treatment of passengers.

Also, problem of inconsistent transport fares; it is a known fact that there is no agency that controls the rate of transport fare in Nigeria. As a result of this, transport companies fix fares indiscriminately, whether in the face of fuel scarcity or not.

All these culminate to negatively affect the tourism industry of Nigeria and this study aims at examining the impact of the road transportation in the tourism industry.

1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY

The aim of the research work is to examine the impact of road transportation on tourism in Nigeria; other specific objectives of the study are stated below as follows:

1. To assess the level of tourism development in Nigeria
2. To determine the effect of road transportation on the rate of patronage in most tourist centres in Nigeria
3. To investigate the factors affecting the ease of road transportation and the growth of tourism in Nigeria
4. To examine the effect bad roads have on transportation, and tourism as a whole in Nigeria
5. To examine the relationship between road transportation and tourism development in Nigeria.
6. To identify constraints experienced by tourist in terms of road transportation

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the level of tourism development in Nigeria?
2. What is the effect of road transportation on the rate of patronage in most tourist centers in Nigeria?
3. What are the factors affecting the ease of road transportation and the growth of tourism in Nigeria?
4. What are the effects bad roads have on transportation, and tourism as whole in Nigeria?
5. What is the relationship between road transportation and tourism development in Nigeria?
6. What are the constraints experienced by tourist in terms of road transportation

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The following hypotheses are formulated:

Hypothesis 1

H0: There is no significant impact of road transportation on tourism in Nigeria

H1: There is a significant impact of road transportation on tourism in Nigeria

Hypothesis 2

H0: There is no significant relationship between transportation and tourism development in Nigeria.

H02: There is significant relationship between transportation and tourism development in Nigeria.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is meant to inform, educate, sensitize and enlighten the general public, government and road transport company owners on the impact of transportation in the tourism industry.

This study aims at reminding the government-both state and federal of the ever-poor state of our roads and the need to look into putting them in good shapes.

Road transport companies like ‘The Young Shall Grow Motors” and “Efex express’’ needs to review their services in other not to lose customers to their competitors and to equally promote tourism in Nigeria.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this topic and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other.

It will be of great benefit also to the industry as it would help know the strength of the general public that still believe in and patronize road transportation, also the future prospects of tourists involving in road transportation.

1.7    SCOPE OF THE STUDY 

The study is based on impacts of road transportation on tourism, a case study of Lagos state and will be restricted to 5 transport companies in the study area which are Young Shall Grow Motors; God is Good Motors, ABC Transport Plc, Efex Express and Chisco Transport Nigeria Limited.

1.8 LIMITATION OF STUDY

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.

1.9 AREA OF STUDY

The study is Kosofe Local Government Area which is located on a land area of approximately 81km2 and a total population of 665, 998(2015 census)

1.10 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Tourism: This can be describe as activities of people travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year and not less than 24 hours either for leisure, business or holiday that does not involve income earning.

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 (Morley, 2010).

Impact: The Collins dictionary defines impact to be the action of an object hitting another or the force in which one object influences another.

Road Transportation: According to Wikipedia, road transportation is a means or type of transport by road. It is also referred to Land transportation. It involves moving passengers with vehicles over a prepared surface.