Assessing the Relationship Between Infrastructural Development and Tourism Destination Competitiveness: Evidence from Nigeria

The travel and tourism industry is considered one of the growth sectors of the Nigerian economy. As a result, the government is looking to diversify the economy that is currently dependent on crude oil by harnessing the tourism potential in the country. That said, many factors lead to tourism development and destination competitiveness. One such factor is infrastructural development. This study, therefore, focuses on the effect of infrastructural development on destination competitiveness using Nigeria as a case study. The study made use of secondary data from various publications of the World Bank, World Economic Forum and United Nations World Tourism Organisation. Regression analysis was applied to assess the effect of infrastructure on international tourist arrivals, while Pearson Correlation was applied to understand the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The findings show that various forms of infrastructural development in Nigeria had negative effects on the number of international tourists visiting the country. Visitors expect easy access to destinations either by road, air or sea, as well as information communication technology. When a country lacks infrastructure, it affects the number of visitors arriving in the country negatively. The study concludes that the findings can contribute to the limited literature on destination competitiveness and help to guide policymaking in the future.