Analysis of Spatial Distribution and Patronage OF Tourism Sites in Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

Tourism exposes an area to growth and development. However, its distribution across space affects its utilization and patronage. This study focused on examining the spatial distribution of tourism sites and pattern of patronage of tourism sites in Jos. The list of tourism sites and annual patronage of tourist was collected from the Plateau State Tourism Board. Handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver was used to acquire coordinates of the tourism sites and overlaid, on a georeferenced basemap of the study to show the spatial distribution in ArcGIS 10.4. Nearest Neighbour Analysis (NNA) was performed to determine the pattern of distribution of tourism sites while the time series analysis was also performed using annual patronage of tourist from 2000-2017 to show the pattern of patronage over the years. Results revealed that there are sixteen (16) tourism sites in Jos which are randomly distributed having a Nearest Neighbour Ratio of 0.010787 at 0.01significantlevel. It was also observed that the Jos North has 56% of tourism sites, Jos South, 25% and 19% in Jos East. Tourism sites patronage is not uniform, as it varies according to the uniqueness of the site. The peak of tourist inflow is mostly during the festive period and public holiday. The patronage pattern of the wildlife park, museum and zoological garden varies from year to year, due to the incessant crises experienced in Jos during the period of the study which affected the patronage of the tourism site. The study recommends that adequate tourism sites should be provided in built up areas of Jos South and Jos East so as to boost tourism activities. Existing tourism facilities should be improved or given a new face lift so as to boost the inflow of tourist from within and outside the state.