The Importance of Tourism Development to Socioeconomic Development of Taraba State: A Case Study of Gashaka Gumti National Park

Abstract

It is not arguable that tourism is a social phenomenon developed by God in the Garden of Eden. The Garden was a social place God usually visited in the cool of the evenings to socialize with man. Today, tourism is fast becoming the most fashionable and lucrative enterprise the world over due to its socio-economic dividends. The commonest feature of the tourist industry is the development of recreation centres such as parks, museums, zoos, stadia, game reserves, among others. It is repeating the obvious to say that tourism is being enhanced and facilitated by the globalization process. The main thrust of this study is, therefore, not only to appraise the socio-eonomic dividends of tourism industry, but also to examine the specific factors that have been major impediments in the development of tourism industry in Taraba State, and with specific focus to the Gashaka Gumti National Park. A multi-disciplinary approach has been adopted for data collection spread mainly across oral and written sources. Effort has also been made to proffer some recommendations as the panacea for the development of tourism industry in Taraba State in particular. The effort by the Taraba State Government to develop tourism industry is, therefore, basically the desire of the State to key into the global trend due to its socioeconomic dividends. The case of the Gashaka Gumti National Park by the Federal Government of Nigeria is equally a leaf from the global trend. Of crucial importance to note, however, is the fact that very crucial capital intensive variables are needed to develop an attractive tourism industry of both national and international standard. The variables range from money, manpower, security (peace), to infrastructure, among others. The inadequacy of these variables adversely hampers the development of any level of tourism industry in any place across the world, including Taraba State.