Idanre Hills: A Social Analysis

Discussion

Social impact of tourism development on the host communities of Idanre Hills

Findings from the study indicated that tourism activities in Idanre Hills have both negative and positive impacts. Adoption of foreign words in daily vocabulary and increased rate of alcoholism were the significant negative social impacts, this supports the assertion of Dorgan (1989) cited in Türker and Öztürk (2013) that residents identity such as habit, values, daily routine is often lost through their interaction with tourists while Brunt and Courtney (1999) have it that impacts on residents way of life is inevitable. The result also corroborates the findings of Tosun (2002), Türker and Öztürk (2013) on Tourism impacts in Turkey that high rate of alcoholism

From the study, it can be deduced that the occupation and year of stay of the residents, predominantly trading/farming and six to ten years respectively had no influence on the perceived significant social impact of tourism development in Idanre Hill. However, gender had a greater influence on the respondents’ perception that “More festival activities have been introduced” as a result of the tourism development in the site. This was a reflection that most males are more engaged and had a better idea on the introduction of more festival activities. The mostly married and low education level population of host communities’ residents was believed to have a significant influence on their perception of the social impact of tourism development on the tourism destination. Muchmore, the perception that age class of the residents was insignificant of tourism development on increase in the rate of alcoholism may be as a result of the youth-dominated population, who were seriously involved into alcoholism, even prior to the enlistment of Idanre Hills as a tentative heritage site. Holistically, the significant influence of host communities’ demographic characteristics on their perception could be the rationale behind their interest, participation,

And for it to be successful in Nigeria, he noted that the economic impact of tourism development on host communities should be one of the considerations in order to achieve maximum benefit and visitors’ experience. The age class, marital status and education level of the residents had the significant influence on their perception of the economic impact of tourism development on the tourism destination amidst other demographic characteristics. It was observed that community members crave for the provision, maintenance and proper management of the available resources that could bring about the development of the society. However, most of them are more concerned about their community development, rather than tourism itself. Thus, the residents denied the fact that interrelationship existed between tourism development and community development. Moreover, Ajadi (2012) argued that the provisions of tourism infrastructure are essential because the development of a tourism destination is largely dependent upon the availability of infrastructure and tourism resources. Infrastructures are fundamental requirements for development which help to improve the standard of living of residents and their communities as well as satisfying the tourist’s experience (Colak and Aydinoglu,