Assessment of the Perception of Tourist and Community Development of Olumirin Erin Ijesha Waterfall, Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assesses the perception of tourist and community development of Olumirin Erin-Ijesha waterfall, Osun state, Nigeria using Semi-structured questionnaire to collect information from one hundred and fifty (150) respondents. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results of the demographic characteristics of the respondents reveals that 85% of the respondents in Olumirin Waterfalls are male and 60% of the respondents are married and those with secondary education has the highest representation 90% The age distributions with the higher percentages are 32 – 38 with 75%. Category of the tourist showed that 94% of respondents are Nigerians (local/regional tourism or inbound tourism). Those staying for less than 24 hours have the higher percentage 94% indicating that tourists are mainly excursionist. Visitors’ control and management that charging of entrance fees has a higher representation (90%) as indicated by the employees. The table further revealed the visitors and site management in which visitors’ influx into the site has been on the increase as claimed by all the employees. Table 4 revealed the tourists appreciation, participation and sensitivity to the site, it was revealed that 54% of the respondents claimed they do not patronise the wares sold in the site and community while 38% does. All the respondents indicated that they would like to re-visit the site. The tourist perception towards ecotourism in the study area showed that 78% of the respondents indicated that ecotourism does more good than harm while 12% gave no answer to the question. Self-assessment by Tourists on their knowledge about ecotourism shows that 38% have excellent knowledge about what ecotourism is. The contribution of Olumirin waterfall to community development revealed that 84% of respondents believed that the development of facilities/infrastructures is due to the presence of the waterfall in the community while 16% indicated otherwise.