Faith based tourism in the contemporary Nigeria: Challenges and prospects

Ekenedilichukwu A. Okolo, Joseph Chukwuemerie Nwankwor

Abstract


Tourism industry is one of the most lucrative industries in recent times. This is because it has witnessed an upsurge among people from both developed and developing countries. Hence, it is seen as a sector that has potential for rapid development when it is well planned and controlled. Faith based or religious tourism as a subset of tourism has also recorded a huge number of attendance which almost outnumbers other aspects of tourism. This is traceable to the quest, interest and man’s eagerness to always have a relationship with the ultimate reality. In this regards, faith based tourism is outstanding and laudable which is because, it is a religious travel aimed at enriching one’s spirituality. This paper therefore intends to have an examination of the challenges of faith based tourism and its prospects in Nigeria. Hence the work will be done using sociological method and the theory of social exchange. The paper therefore finds that many people are always interested in attending faith based tourism but are often discouraged because of number of challenges encountered on the process. It concludes that faith based tourism is an aspect of tourism that should be encouraged because of its numerous positive contributions to the people and the society at large. It recommends that the government and religious leaders should try to help in reducing those challenges that are being faced by the people in order to encourage more turnouts which will invariably yield a better economy.

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