3. roduction
When it comes to outcomes, most discussions around
Travel and Tourism in Nigeria focus on the impoverished
state we find ourselves despite the abundance of the riches
of our culture, tradition, artifacts, local literature, and all
components which ought to take the front seat during these
discussions.
At different points in time, a number of bodies responsible
for tourism in the country have presented various plans to
revamp this industry but very little progress has been made.
This survey (focused on understanding the true perception
of the Nigerian youth about travel and tourism) seeks to
highlight the probable causes of the sluggish growth of
domestic tourism within the country through the use of
empirical data and quality content.
4. Overview
In a bid to make this as credible as possible, the opinions of
279 persons within the age range of 18-45 were sampled across
all the states in Nigeria. Questions bordering around Travel
preference, Insurance, Accomodation and travel exposure were
asked. The entries were gathered within a period of one week
after which the submission was closed.
This project addresses the problem of disinterest in travel and
tourism within Nigeria, having noticed over time that major
decision making arms of the industry execute actions based
on limited evidence rather than factual information.
Google Forms and Google sheet were used in gathering and
analyzing the data used in this report. Microsoft Power BI was
used in describing the analyzed data and Google slides helped
in presenting the processed data.
Ultimately, this body of work will form a part of my continuous
push to ensure tourism becomes an integral part of wealth
creation in Nigeria and Africa at large.
6. Both genders were well represented with
45% Females and 55% males respectively
45%
55%
7. With the highest bracket being 26-30, it’s an indication that this survey is dominated by working
class individuals who are likely to travel more than every other age brackets. It also sits at the
core of an ideal demographic for the youth populace which this body of work seeks to
investigate.
8. More than half of the
respondents reside in
Lagos. The remaining
fraction are split among
states from every region in
the country.
The interesting thing about
this occurrence is that the
respondents from lagos are
indigenes of other states- a
phenomena which further
enhances an even
representation of every
state in the country.
9. Only 3% of the respondents have never traveled out of their states of residence, while the
remaining 97% have traveled outside their state of residence.
Of the 97% who have traveled out of their states of residence, 22% traveled for tourism
28% went for Business and 50% traveled for events ranging from wedding to youth service to
conferences.
For context sake, 11% of Americans have never traveled out of their own state of birth and 1 in 10
Americans say they have no interest in going anywhere.
10. Oyo, Ogun and Lagos are the most visited states by the respondents. While Zamfara, Jigawa,
and Yobe are the least visited.
The visiting frequency of respondents to Ogun and Oyo state could be due to their proximity to
Lagos (where most of the them are based).
12. 33%
33% of the respondents do not have a
Nigerian Passport While the remaining
67% do have passports. Majority of them
have only traveled with it once or twice
and 26% have never used their passport
to travel.
13. Only 6% of the respondents have travel insurance,
while 18% have never heard of it.
It’s interesting to note however, that 41% of the
respondents who don’t have travel insurance said
they won’t like having it while the remaining 59%
wouldn’t mind getting theirs.
6%
14. Hotel still remains the most popular means of accommodation (at 51%) for the respondents despite the rising
popularity of alternatives like Airbnb (3%) and couchsurfing (0%).
A lot more respondents will also prefer to pass the nights at a friends/Family's place (46%). This is done mostly
to cut cost, and it’s also another pointer to the fact that price is a major determinant of accommodation
choice.
15. The average amount most respondents will be willing and able to spend on accommodation
while traveling is below N10,000
Hotel operators might need to create more offerings around this range to cater for this class of
customers.
16. For majority of the respondents (31%), between N21,000 N50,000 is the average amount they can
spend on travel and tourism. This is a pointer to the fact that anything outside this price
bracket will be considered out of budget for this people.
17. A whooping 81% will prefer to travel alongside friends, compared
to the 13% who will prefer solo travel and 7% who’d rather go
with people they’ve never met before.
18. The choice of transportation reflects one major thing, and that is the fact that Road and Air
transportation are two of the most functional means of transportation. The Government has a
lot to do in this regard by taking infrastructures more seriously and also encouraging the
populace to try other means of commuting between and within states.
19. Europe is the favourite destination for majority of these youth, closely followed by Africa.
A close look at this result also reveals that many of the respondents prefer traveling to destinations
along coastal areas and this might be due to the presence of beaches.
America, Canada, France, Dubai, UK are, according to the respondents the most popular countries for
Tourism.
20.
21. In Nigeria, majority of the respondents believe that Abuja, Cross River and Lagos are the most
popular states as far as Tourism is concerned.
22. Obudu Cattle ranch leading as the most popular Tourist attraction in the country according to
majority of the respondents. They affirmed that Olumo Rock is the second most popular
attraction in the country.
23. Limitations
Here are a couple of constraints that have influenced the
outcome of this research;
○ Due to the time-consuming nature of the
Quantitative research, only 300 respondents were
sampled within the allotted time for data collection,
which was 1 week.
○ I wanted the respondents to treat the questionnaire
with the highest level of interest without losing
enthusiasm, so the number of questions were limited,
hence reducing the volume of data points collected.
○ Majority of the respondents are based in Lagos.
While this mightn't be the best representation of
Nigeria, it is still the closest shot, considering that
Lagos is the most diversified state in the country.
○ Limited close-ended options during data collection.
24. Purpose
of this
study
I was just curious that afternoon to know what data the bureau of
statistics had on The Nigerian Travel Industry. I wasn’t surprised
when I met an almost empty page because the industry is one
among the few sectors that no one is interested in.
This singular occurrence prompted me into putting together this
simple body of work to form a basis on which subsequent
research projects around travel and tourism can be built.
Most importantly, this was designed to help provide guidance to
major stakeholders (such as tour operators, travel content
creators, Government, etc ) while making plans as it concerns this
industry.
Phillips Tunde
Founder, Nomadicnegro.com
25. Appreciation
To everyone who took a portion of their time in attending to my survey, I owe you one
even though I barely know half of you in person. I sure know you could have done
something more tangible with that time but you chose to do it for me instead. Why on
earth will I be ungrateful?
To @glim_bukola and Opara Chidinma- the duo who helped ensure the trip wasn’t a
lonely one by contributing physically and mentally towards the project, I’m still unsure
how best to make you understand how important your contributions were.