Nigeria turns to beauty spots to revive tourism

AFP, Nigeria :
Birdwatchers often go to extreme lengths to spot a rare species, even travelling to the westernmost of Alaska’s Aleutian islands.
By contrast, the bird sanctuary in Nigeria’s Amurum Forest Reserve, where undulating rock formations surround a savannah dominated by lush, tall grass, is rarely, if ever, on any twitcher’s wish list.
More than 260 bird species have been spotted in the reserve covering two square kilometres (less than a square mile) just outside the central city of Jos, including two that are endemic: the Rock Firefinch and the Plateau Indigo Bird.
A serene nature reserve offering so many species, two of which are unlikely to be seen anywhere else in the world, could attract birdwatchers from across the globe.
Yet Shiiwua Manu, who runs the A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute in Amurum Forest, said visitors are rare, apart from a handful of academics.
“If I were a non-Nigerian and I was (travelling) to look for birds, I obviously won’t come to Nigeria,” the Oxford-trained ornithologist told AFP. “And you know why.”
The country has a miserable reputation as a tourism destination, even before the current Ebola epidemic and fears over Islamist violence.
Foreign visitors who are prepared to overlook health and security concerns must still contend with crumbling infrastructure, poor electricity supply and sub-standard leisure amenities.
“Nigeria has always been a hard sell to any pleasure-seeking tourist,” according to British-based market research firm BGL.
Tourism generated roughly 0.5 percent of gross domestic product as an annual average between 2006 and 2012 in Nigeria, which is Africa’s largest economy, BGL added in a 2013 report.
By comparison, in the continent’s second economy South Africa, tourism accounts for 9.8 percent of GDP, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
Experts agree that Nigeria has grown far too reliant on revenue from its vast oil sector and urgently needs to diversify its economy.
Given daily violence in the north by the radical jihadists of Boko Haram and an outbreak of the highly contagious Ebola fever, tourism may not seem like an obvious choice for Nigeria.
But staring out at striking vistas from a rocky height in Amurum as birds chatter below, the visitor is easily convinced that Nigeria has sites of stunning natural beauty.
Yet convincing foreigners to visit in large numbers can at best be described as a long-term goal.
One place to start might be right at home, BGL suggested, noting that Nigeria’s population of 170 million represents a massive opportunity.