Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

George Kieh

Abstract

Despite Nigeria’s abundant tourism resources, tourism host communities in the country are fraught with underdevelopment. Although vital policies aimed at harnessing the country’s tourism resources abound in the country’s national policy system, their impact on underdevelopment in tourism host communities has not been assessed. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to assess the impact of tourism development policies on underdevelopment in Ikom as a host community for tourism in Nigeria. The elite theory and Christaller’s central place theory were used in this study. Twenty-two participants in the Ikom region of Cross River State, Nigeria were interviewed regarding their perception of the impact of tourism development policies on underdevelopment in their community. Saldana’s method of coding and content analysis was used for data analysis. The results revealed that tourism development policies have had no tangible impact on underdevelopment in Ikom as a host community for tourism. Recommendations include the provision and allocation of adequate resources for tourism development by policymakers, as well as motivating stakeholders and host community members to make investments toward harnessing tourism resources in their community. Also, community development should be prioritized over politicization in the place of policy development and implementation. Implementation of these recommendations might stimulate conversation among tourism stakeholders regarding ways that policy implementation could lead to positive social change in development in tourism host communities.

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