A REVIEW OF THE ROLE OF ARCHITECTURE IN TOURISM INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA.
1Odetoye A.S., 2Bashiru Adekunle A & 3Bolaji Josephine Owoseni
1Department of Architecture, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho
2 School of Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management.
3Department of History and Heritage Studies,
2&3 Kwara State University, Malete, Kwara State.
Email: etukndara@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Tourism is defined by World Tourism Organization (WATO), as activities that involve people travelling from their usual places of abode to other locations outside their normal environment. The travel must not be more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes’. While architecture, as defined by Dictionaary.com (n.d), is ‘the profession of designing buildings, open areas, communities, and other artificial constructions and environments, with regards to aesthetics’. Architecture is an essential ingredient of most if not all tourism experiences, framing the holiday experience and being a tourism attraction at the same time. Approaches which shape landscape of projects in tourism: participation, compliancy with the region’s branding, multiple usability of interventions, trans disciplinary planning processes, service design and more. Architecture’s role in Architecture and tourism are very closely related activities. It can be said to depend on each other. Their mutual relationship is obvious since ancient times where the architecture, as a tourist attraction, had a very important role. This relationship is because there is architecture in tourism and at the same time tourism in architecture. Architecture and Tourism examines the reciprocal relationship between the modern practice of tourism and the built environment. It shows how photography, film and souvenirs have been deployed to help mediate and mythologize specific sites. It also explores how tourist itineraries, behavior and literature are institutionalized for popular consumption in order to support larger cultural objectives. That is a place to live, work, recreate, rest, relax and carry out tourism activities, usually designed by the architect. And tourism creates the avenue of escape to attractive destinations making architecture a touristic focus. Monuments have served as tourists’ attractions and have necessitated travels globally for recreational purposes. In recent times, contemporary architecture is seen to contribute immensely to the tourism sector and play a significant role in tourism development across the globe. In Nigeria, in spite of the numerous traditional architecture and monuments in existence, many are left unpreserved. Modern architecture is also not being seen as means of attraction for tourism purposes. Infrastructure, asaverred by Ayeni (2013), are the essential services and facilities needed for a society to function efficiently. Also serves as a potential determinant of the attractiveness of a tourism destination (Seetanah et al., 2011). This paper, therefore, review the role of architecture in tourism industry development in Nigeria.
Keywords: Architecture, Development, Nigeria, Tourism.