AN ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TOURISM IN NIGERIA: 1995-2019

Abstract

The basis of this study is to analyse the economic impact of travel and tourism in Nigeria: 1995-2019. The analysis was based on the data garnered from the WTTC data base and include: The percentage share of GDP, total visitor exports, percentage of total exports, total contribution to employment, percentage share of total employment, capital investment, domestic tourism spending, government, individual expenditures, outbound T&T expenditures, leisure tourism spending, business tourism spending, and internal T&T consumption predict or explain total T&T contribution to GDP. The analysis was done with Mintab 17 statistical software. The results of the analysis show that total tourism exports is a strong predictor of T&T contribution to GDP. Our analysis also show that domestic tourism spending is a strong and statistically significant predictor of T&T output and GDP. The implication of the findings was discussed among others that safety and security must be improved for domestic T&T to thrive in Nigeria.