GEO-TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AS A MEANS OF REDUCING RURAL UNEMPLOYMENT IN ESAN WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

Abstract

With the present unemployment rate in Nigeria, it is clear that “feeding bottle” federalism where it seems there is much to share and little to contribute can no longer be sustained. There is therefore an urgent need for alternate source of income other than oil. The need for diversification in Nigeria is now more compelling, judging by the number of graduates being rolled out from the various institutions, seeking for non-existence white collar jobs. Tourism therefore presents an alternative source of revenue in Esan West local government area. The aim of this paper is to examine tourism as a panacea against unemployment, and a way out of poverty in the country, particularly in the rural areas, in Esan West Local Government. The study revealed that rural areas like Ogwa and Ujogba in the locality, are blessed with both natural and cultural endowments which are capable of improving their living standards. In view of this, Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to analyze the correlation between tourism business and other occupations (Teaching and farming,) in the study area. In the analysis, tourism was taken as the independent variable while other occupations (teaching and farming) as the dependent variables. The results revealed that employment in tourism have significant and positive effects on employment in teaching which is (r=0.739) and farming (r=0.728) which are socio-economic indicators. The study recommends that there should be immediate mobilization of people towards the development of their natural and cultural resources for the development of tourism, and the construction of infrastructural facilities.