Abuja – Mr Emeka Attamah, an Abuja based tourism consultant, on Tuesday in Abuja said the sustainability of tourism development would be better achieved through community-based natural resource management programmes.
Attamah, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said local community involvement in the planning, development and management of tourism projects should be explored for comparative advantage.
“We should maintain focus on the community as the centre of the tourism development strategy to ensure local ownership of projects and retention of profits.
“We should also provide technical assistance by facilitating capacity-building and the transfer of technologies at the local level as well as support strengthening of institutional mechanisms for responsible pro-poor tourism development,’’ he said.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Attamah said that the strategy of the host communities’ involvement would help them identify and protect cultural and natural assets of the community.
“This approach will raise awareness among tourists to encourage them to appreciate and respect the sites they visit.
“It will also promote improvement in the delivery of local tourism services to ensure quality and authenticity.
“Environmental commitment and cooperation among different partners in the pursuit of tourism development will bring the much desired tourism development sustainability,’’ said the expert.
He said partnerships with local communities would support fiscal strategies, such as taxes or levies that fund road construction and improvement of communication networks, rural schools, health and sanitation. (NAN)