Socio-Demographic Determinants of Travel Motivation and Behaviour of Visitors in Nature-Based Destinations in Northern Nigeria

This study aimed to assess socio-demographic determinants of travel motivation and behavior of visitors in nature-based destinations in Northern Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was administered to 575 respondents at Chad Basin National Park; CBNP (69), Gashaka Gumti National Park; GGNP (165) and Yankari Game Reserve; YGR (341). Data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. Results revealed that majority of the respondents at CBNP were males (72.5%), majority of the respondents at GGNP were females (77.6%) and majority of the respondents at YGR were males (53.1%). Visitors were majorly motivated to come to CBNP for enjoyment of nature (27.5%) while source of information about the parks revealed previous trip as the highest in CBNP (29%) and YGR (36.1%) while GGNP recorded friends and relatives as the highest (45.5%). They were majorly motivated to visit GGNP because they wanted to be away from hustle and bustle of cities (33.3%) and they were motivated to visit YGR for game viewing (33.4%). Furthermore, there is significant relationship between travel motivations and sex, marital status, education, occupation, nationality (P<0.01). The determinants of travel motivations were monthly income, occupation and nationality while the determinants of travel behaviours were the socio-demographic factors except age. Game viewing and nature attributes of nature-based destinations should be developed more as these attributes motivate people to visit the sites. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jasem.v24i12.18 Copyright: Copyright © 2020 Wambani et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCL), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Dates: Received: 02 October 2020; Revised: 26 November 2020; Accepted: 12 December 2020

Improvement in the economy through tourism returns generated from conservation of eco destinations as well as opportunities created for cultural interactions have great influence on natural and heritage areas (Cetin and Sevik, 2016). Wildlife tourism which is a major form of nature-based tourism has attracted a great number of tourists globally with Arica being the major destination for game viewing among continents of the world evident in 56 million international tourists recorded in Africa during the year 2013 (UNWTO, 2015). The first-hand experience and the stirs in emotions of tourists realized in wildlife tourism as well as the experience of reconnecting with natural environment have served as driving force of wildlife tourism in Eco destinations (Ballantyne et al., 2011). The impact of socio-demographic attributes of tourists on travel behavior has been identified and recorded globally in tourism studies (Wei et al., 2017) as age, gender, occupation, education, income and other socio demographic characteristics have significant impact on travel choices and behaviour (Otoo et al., 2016).These tourism studies have involved motivation for going on a vacation (Aziz et al., 2018), tourism destination preference (Mohsin and Ryan, 2004), money spent on tourism activities (Saayman and Saayman, 2009), factors that form destination image, duration of stay during a vacation , attractive features of a tourism destination (Lee et al., 2009) and perception of how service is rendered at a destination (Banki et al., 2018). The attractiveness of a destination can be divided into natural and artificial elements; natural elements being all features of nature, heritage, geography and climate while artificial elements include infrastructure and supporting features enabling tourists enjoy and navigate a tourism destination (Fadda and Sørensen, 2017). It is the duty and responsibility of an ecodestination to serve as attractions in order to motivate visitors to patronize (Fadda and Sørensen, 2017). When tourists perceive a tourism destination as attractive, there is high probability of the tourists repeating a visit to the site (Owusu-Frimpong et al., 2013). Due to this, it is obvious that attractiveness of a destination which is represented by tourism resources and facilities available is a major motivating factor for tourists and thus is an important aspect of management planning since attractions have significant impacts on travel behavior (Woyo, 2018). Literatures explaining causal relationship between socio-demographic attributes and travel motivation and behavior have emerged but there are limited studies regarding the association of sociodemographic attributes and how attractive a tourism destination is viewed by tourists due to the tourism resources embedded in it (Hendrik et al., 2017). From the reviewed studies, it is obvious that sociodemographic characteristics of visitors is very important in determining their travel motivation. Most of these studies have also been done outside Nigeria, therefore, the objective of this paper is to determine the socio-demographic determinants of visitors' travel motivation and behaviour to destinations in Northern Nigeria.

Description of Study Area:
The study was carried out at Chad Basin National Park (CBNP), Borno and Yobe States, Gashaka Gumti National Park (GGNP), Taraba and Adamawa States and Yankari Game Reserve (YGR), Bauchi State. They are located in the Northern part of Nigeria. Sample Design and Sample Size: The population for this study was visitors to each of the nature-based destinations. In order to determine the sample size for the study, we utilized the 2017 arrival records of the selected study areas using Krejcie and Morgan (1970) method of sampling size determination. The total number of visitors to Chad Basin National Park (CBNP) was 98, GGNP (367 visitors), and Yankari Game Reserve (42,520 visitors). Thus, the sample size was as follows: CBNP (69), GGNP (165), and YGR (341). In total, 575 visitors were randomly selected for the study.

Data Sources and Data Collection Methods:
The study employed quantitative research methods in order to meet the research objectives. Structured questionnaire administration directed at visitors of the destinations was used. The questionnaire was divided into three sections; first section captured the visitors' socio-demographic characteristics, second section captured their travel motivation while the third section was on travel behaviour. Variables measured were sex, age, education, occupation, monthly income, nationality, source of information, travel motivation and behaviours. This study made sure the questions were clear and understandable to visitors by using relevant literatures in previous motivation studies to construct variables in this study. Data was obtained across the three sites from April to December 2018.
Data Analysis: In this study, we analysed the data using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23 (IBM Corp, 2015) and results were presented descriptively using frequency, percentage and tables. Inferentially, ANOVA was used to determine the difference in travel motivation and behaviour among the eco-destinations. Chi square and correlation were conducted to test for the relationship and association between socio-demographic characteristics and travel motivations of the respondents as well as relationship and association between socio-demographic characteristics and travel behaviour of the respondents. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the socio-demographic determinants of travel motivation and behaviour of respondents.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Socio-demographic Characteristics of the visitors: Table 1 reveals the socio-demographic characteristics of visitors at Chad Basin National Park (CBNP), Gashaka Gumti National Park (GGNP) and Yankari Game Reserve (YGR). Highest percentage of the visitors were males at CBNP (72.5%) and YGR (53.1%) while highest of the visitors were female at GGNP (77.6%). This supports the findings of Ogunjinmi (2016) that more males are seen in public parks than female with 70.9% males and 29.1% female. This is inconsistent with the work of Hu & Lu (2014) regarding 60.5% female respondents recorded in ecotourism sites in Zhejang, China. This inconsistency could have been due to Nigerian culture which frowns at female travelling for recreation alone or without permission from either the parents or husbands. Highest percentage of the visitors were also within age 25-54 years at CBNP (68.1%) and YGR (48.7%) while highest percentage of the visitors were within age 15-24 years at GGNP (57%). The prime ages of these visitors who were primarily civil servants with moderate income level suggests that they are economically viable to spend money on leisure and recreation as opined by (Ogunbodede, 2012). Also, the visitors were mostly married at CBNP which is not consistent with Meng and Uysal (2008) who reported that single visitors seek adventure activities in a destination more than married visitors but is consistent with result from Gashaka Gumti National Park and Yankari Game Reserve which reported more single respondents (single at GGNP-35.8%; single at YGR-52.5%). Furthermore, 43.1% of the visitors at CBNP and 24.3% at YGR had BSc./ HND while 29.1% had ND/ NCE at GGNP which shows that they have the required knowledge to answer the questions in this study. This is consistent with the study by Phumsathan (2011) that visitors' responses to physical conditions were highly influenced by education levels and income. Furthermore, majority of the visitors were earning N31,000-60,000 (USD80.73-156.25) at CBNP (26.1%) and YGR (23.2%) respectively while majority of the visitors were earning N121,000-150,000 .63) at GGNP. Highest percentage of the visitors were civil servants at CBNP (59.4%), GGNP (97.6%) and YGR (70.4%) and Nigerians at CBNP (100%), GGNP (97.6%) and YGR (98.8%). Their low income level could be the reason for choosing domestic tourism as opined by Chen and Tsai (2007) that travellers with less income tend to take frequent domestic vacations rather than international trips. The result is however in contrast with the findings of ESK (2004) in Kenya that visitation was mainly by foreign visitors and other national residents with few Kenyans patronizing ecotourism facilities. The low level of visitation by international tourists could be due to the level of insecurity in Nigeria at the moment.  Motivational factors of Visitors to the Sites: As revealed in Table 3, highest percentage of the visitors at CBNP were motivated to the site so as to enjoy nature (27.5%) followed by game viewing (26.1%) and education/ research (24.6%). Also, highest percentage of GGNP visitors were motivated to visit the site so as to move away from hustle and bustle of the cities (33.3%) followed by game viewing (30.3%) and enjoyment of nature (24.2%) while highest percentage of YGR visitors were motivated to visit the site for game viewing (33.4%) followed by enjoyment of nature (19.6%) and education / research (19.6%). This is supported by Ramkissoon and Uysal (2010) that modern and sophisticated tourist looking for more natural heritage offerings. O'Neill et al. (2010) also opined that visitors are driven by a desire to escape routine and are attracted by the wide open green spaces offered by nature-based sites. The desire of visitors for game viewing also corroborates suggestion by Ballantyne et al. (2011) that the sensory and emotional nature of the wildlife experience and desire to 'reconnect with nature' drives wildlife tourism. Skibins et al. (2012) also stated that the public's attention tends to focus on particularly larger wild animal species with dramatic behavior such as predators, certain iconic animals or rare and exotic species. Travel Behaviour of the Respondents: As revealed in Table 4, majority were first time visitors at CBNP (66.7%) and GGNP (73.3%) and this is consistent with similar studies conducted by Ellis and Vogelsong (2002) that observed 78.0% as first time visitors while majority were repeat visitors at YGR (62.2%) which is in agreement with study of Ogunjinmi (2015) who revealed that 82.0% of the visitors were repeat visitors, which is an indication that they are experienced ecotourists. Visitors' frequency of visitation according to  can be used as a measure to indicate their level of interest. Both types of visitors play an important role in sustaining parks' visitor base and competing with surrounding destinations for new markets (Sievänen et al., 2011).
In understanding more about the visitor experience, park managers should obtain current information about why individuals are initially attracted to a national park and what keeps them coming back subsequently . Out of the repeat visitors, 63.8% and 41.1% had visited 2-3 times at CBNP and YGR respectively while 40.6% had visited 6-7 times at GGNP. Also, majority of the visitors stayed for 2-3 days at CBNP (40.1%), 1 day/4-5 days at GGNP (33.3%) and 1 day at YGR (29.6%) thereby injecting more money into the parks' economy as they would have to pay for accommodation and other services offered at the parks. This is important for sustainability of the parks as supported by Cetin and Sevik (2016) (Beerli and Martin, 2004).
Previous trips depicts that the visitors have been to the parks before and this indicates they were satisfied with their visit to warrant a repeat visit and this will also enhance positive comments about the attractiveness of the parks as supported by Owusu-Frimpong et al. (2013) that Destinations that are perceived as attractive enjoy higher repeat visit intentions. Based on this, it is clear that destination attractiveness is an important aspect in destination planning and management as it influences travel behaviour (Woyo, 2018). Bianchi et al. (2014) also stated that visitors' evaluations of a destination can either occur before or after travelling.     Table 7 shows the influence of socio-demographic characteristics on travel motivations. The model accounts for 13% of the variance in the dependent variable. Monthly income, occupation and nationality had statistically significant beta coefficients. These significant variables had positive score. Occupation was the strongest determinants of travel motivation (p<0.01) followed by monthly income (p<0.01 and nationality (P<0.05).

Socio-demographic
Determinants of Travel Behaviour: Table 9 demonstrates the influence of socio-demographic characteristics over travel behaviours. Using trip level as dependent variable, the model accounts for 18% of the variance in the dependent variable. Nationality had statistically significant beta coefficient. This variable had a positive score and was a strong predictor of trip level (P<0.01). Using length of stay as dependent variable, the model accounts for 3% of the variance in the dependent variable. Nationality and monthly income had statistically significant beta coefficients. Nationality had positive score while monthly income had negative score. Nationality was the strongest predictor of length of stay (P<0.01) followed by monthly income (P<0.01). Using travel companion as dependent variable, the model accounts for 13% of the variance in the dependent variable. Sex, marital status, occupation and nationality had statistically significant beta coefficient. Sex and occupation had positive scores while marital status and nationality had negative scores. Occupation (P<0.01) was the strongest predictor of travel companion followed by marital status (P<0.01), nationality (P<0.01) and sex (P<0.05). Using choice of transport as dependent variable, the model accounts for 7% of the variance in the dependent variable. Education had statistically significant beta coefficient. This variable had a negative score and is a strong predictor of transport choice (P<0.01). Using trip planning as dependent variable, the model accounts for 57% of the variance in the dependent variable.  Conclusion: This study concludes that the visitors were motivated to come to the sites for game viewing and enjoyment of nature. Also, the socio-demographic characteristics are determinants of visitors' travel motivation and behavior. This study demonstrates the importance of knowing socio-demographic characteristics of visitors and how it affects their travel motivation and behaviour. Management of destinations can therefore improve their destination image by developing their attractive features and facilities to attract visitors of all socio-demographic attributes.