This study examines the attitudes of Nigerian experts in government, higher education, and the tourism industry by soliciting their views on the development of tourism education in Nigerian universities.
This study was to determine: (1) The attitudes of officials in higher education, government, and the tourism industry toward the development of university-level tourism programs in order to produce qualified managers. (2) The readiness of officials in higher education, government, and the tourism industry to accept future development of tourism programs as a distinct field of study.
Data were collected using a 49-item questionnaire and interviews with higher education, government, and tourism industry officials in Nigeria.
Subjects for this study included 30 officials selected by stratified random sampling.
All three types of officials demonstrated a positive attitude regarding tourism education in Nigeria's institutions of higher learning and also offered to cooperate in initiating the program.
The study concluded that a need exists for tourism education in Nigerian universities. It also concluded that this need can be met through the support of top-level officials from the government, higher education, and the tourism industry.
It recommends that: (1) Tourism should become an important element in the diversification of the Nigerian economy. (2) Tourism should be recognized as a profession, and the masses educated regarding the benefits of tourism. (3) A tourism education program should be started in the universities as a department with full-time faculty members and industrial consultants who should develop and teach it. (4) Nigerian tourism professionals should plan and develop tourism, and they should fill vacancies as the industry expands. (5) Agencies of the government, the industry, and higher education should cooperate in developing tourism education and the industry. (6) The government should recognize the benefits of tourism and promulgate a viable tourism policy. (7) Personnel in the tourism industry should periodically be retrained. (8) Local and foreign experts should participate in developing Nigerian tourism.
