Community-Based Strategies for Leveraging Local Assets to Promote Sustainable Tourism Development in Okrika and Bonny Local Government Areas of Rivers State

Abstract

This study examined community-based strategies for leveraging local assets to promote sustainable tourism development in Okrika and Bonny Local Government Areas of Rivers State. Three objectives, three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The descriptive survey design was adopted. The population comprised 3,640 members and leaders of registered community-based organisations, from which 333 respondents were sampled. A structured questionnaire titled Community-Based Strategies for Leveraging Local Assets to Promote Sustainable Tourism Development Questionnaire (CBSLLAPSTDQ) was used for data collection. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while z-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that community-driven cultural and heritage preservation initiatives promoted sustainable tourism development to a very high extent among leaders and high extent among members; eco-tourism initiatives promoted sustainable tourism development to a high extent; and capacity building through tourism education promoted sustainable tourism development to a very high extent among leaders and high extent among members. The three null hypotheses were accepted, indicating no significant differences in the ratings of leaders and members. It was recommended that community heritage programmes, eco-tourism initiatives and tourism education programmes should be strengthened.