KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF STAKEHOLDERS ON ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN AND AROUND OLD OYO NATIONAL PARK, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Ecotourism development (ED) is one of the factors promoting sustainable utilisation of natural resources. Stakeholders‘ attitude towards natural resources in Old Oyo National Park (OONP) can undermine or enhance conservation goals of the park. Information on stakeholders‘ knowledge and perception that can be used for ED in OONP is limited. Therefore, this study assessed the knowledge and perception of stakeholders on ED in OONP, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 220 residents in 27 out of 59 settlements within 20 km radius of the park. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 95 park staff (PS) and purposive sampling technique to select 354 tourists and 125 ecotourism-related entrepreneurs; giving a total of 794 respondents. Four sets of structured questionnaire were used for the study. Information on socio-demographic characteristics (age, education, ethnicity, occupation, income, cadre, number of visit, service provided), knowledge and perception of stakeholders on ED, factors limiting ED and effectiveness of park management strategies were assessed. Indices of knowledge about ED (1-26; poor 1-12, good 13-26) and perception on ED (1-76; negative 1-75, positive 76-152) were generated. Data collection was done during on- and off-seasons of ecotourism activities in 2014 and 2015. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, ANOVA and logistic regression at α0.05.