Impacts of Gully Erosion on Tourism Infrastructure, Economic Performance, and Sustainable Tourism Development in Cross River State, Nigeria 0 0
Keywords:
Gully Erosion, Tourism Infrastructure, Economic Performance, Sustainable Tourism DevelopmentAbstract
This study examines the impacts of gully erosion on tourism infrastructure, economic performance, and sustainable tourism development in Cross River State, Nigeria. It identifies the major socio-economic drivers of gully erosion and evaluates how erosion affects tourism activities, infrastructure, and overall development outcomes in the study area. A mixed-methods research design was adopted, combining descriptive statistics, questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, and simple linear regression analysis. Out of 388 questionnaires distributed, 362 were retrieved and analyzed, representing a 93.3% response rate. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, and regression techniques. Findings revealed that deforestation, sand mining, agricultural expansion, urbanization, and infrastructural development are the major socio-economic drivers of gully erosion in Cross River State. The results further showed that gully erosion significantly damages tourism infrastructure such as roads and facilities, reduces accessibility to tourist destinations, degrades scenic and aesthetic landscape quality, and increases safety risks. These effects collectively reduce visitor satisfaction and tourist inflow. The study also found that gully erosion negatively impacts economic performance in the tourism sector through reduced revenue, lower tourist spending, increased maintenance costs, business closures, declining employment, and reduced investment inflow. These challenges collectively weaken sustainable tourism development in the state. The study concludes that weak environmental policy enforcement, poor management practices, inadequate funding, and heavy dependence on land-based livelihoods intensify erosion impacts and threaten tourism sustainability. It among other that Government and tourism authorities should prioritize the rehabilitation and protection of tourism infrastructure through erosion control measures such as drainage improvement, afforestation, and slope stabilization, especially in erosion-prone tourism corridors.
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