COVID-19 AND COMMUNITY BASED TOURISM IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA
Keywords:
community-based tourism, COVID-19, Enugu state, tourismAbstract
The study examines Covid-19 and community-based tourism in Enugu State, Nigeria. The pandemic, which has affected lives and livelihoods globally, is implicated in the scaling down and suspension of community-based tourism activities and operations leading to great financial loss to self-funded tourist-based businesses in Enugu State, the focal point of the study. The restrictions, lockdowns and protocols on social gathering and interactions by the government to check the spread of Covid-19, have affected tourist visits to these attraction centres from within and across the State's borders, which invariably reduced the revenue base of the State and the host communities. The findings also reveal the negative impacts of Covid-19 on key supporting elements in the tourism industry like; hotels, transportation, banks, shops and restaurants. The paper identifies the need to revive community-based tourism in Enugu State in order to boost its capacity-and contributions to local economies. It adopted a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies using observation, interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussion (FGD) for data collection. Scholarly books, articles in academic journals and edited books were also accessed for secondary data to complement the data from primary sources
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