ABSTRACT
This study explores the role of world documentary platforms in
influencing tourism destination selection in Nigeria. With the increasing popularity
of documentaries that highlight destinations and cultural heritage,
understanding how these platforms can shape tourists' decisions has become
essential for the growth of the tourism industry in Nigeria. The primary
objective of this research is to assess the impact of documentary platforms on
tourists’ choice of destinations, specifically in the context of Umuahia, Abia
State. Key objectives include identifying strategies for setting up documentary
platforms, evaluating marketing techniques, examining the effectiveness of
these platforms, and assessing their capacity to encourage tourist visits.
Furthermore, the study investigates factors that influence tourists’ intention
and attitudes towards using documentary platforms for selecting holiday destinations.
The research adopts a survey research design, using both structured
questionnaires and personal interviews as primary data collection methods. A
sample of 86 respondents was selected from employees of seven registered
tourism destinations in Umuahia, using convenience sampling. Descriptive
statistics, including frequencies, percentages, and mean values, were employed
to analyze the data collected. The findings suggest that documentary platforms
play a significant role in shaping perceptions and influencing the
decision-making process of tourists in Nigeria. The research highlights that
while documentaries can provide valuable insights into the history, culture,
and unique features of a destination, there is a gap in the use of these
platforms for promoting local tourism destinations in Nigeria. The study also
reveals that the lack of high-quality local documentary films and limited
international recognition of Nigerian tourism documentaries hinder the full
potential of these platforms. Furthermore, marketing strategies, effectiveness,
and documentary capacities are crucial factors that determine how well these
platforms can boost tourism interest. The study concludes that world
documentary platforms have considerable potential in promoting tourism destinations
in Nigeria. However, the effectiveness of these platforms depends on improved
local production quality, strategic marketing, and collaboration with tourism
destination managers. The research provides recommendations for the Nigerian
tourism industry to enhance the role of documentary platforms in tourism
destination branding, ensuring that they are used strategically to encourage
both local and international tourists to visit Nigerian destinations.
Additionally, the study calls for greater integration between documentary
producers and tourism authorities to create an appropriate image of
destinations that can appeal to a broader audience. Overall, this research
contributes to the growing body of literature on the intersection of
documentary platforms and tourism, particularly within the Nigerian context. It
offers practical insights for tourism marketers, filmmakers, and policymakers
looking to harness the power of documentaries to boost tourism destination
selection and promote sustainable tourism growth in Nigeria.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study
1.2
Statement of the Problem
1.3 Objective of the Study
1.4
Research Questions
1.5
Significance of the Study
1.6
Scope of the Study
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1
Conceptual Framework
2.1.1
The Tourism Industry
2.1.2
Tourism as a World of Paradoxes
2.1.3
Documentary Platforms on Tourism Destination Selection
2.1.4
Influence of documentary platform on tourism destination
2.1.5
Role of Documentary Platforms on Tourism Destination Selection
2.1.6
Documentary as a marketing strategy
2.2
Theoretical
Framework
2.2.1
Plog’s theory
2.2.2
Doxey’s theory
2.2.3
Social exchange theory
2.2.4
Butler’s theory
2.3
Empirical Literatures
2.4
Summary of Related Literature
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1
Research Design
3.2
Area of the Study
3.4.2.
Sampling Technique
3.5 Instrument
for Data Collection
3.6
Validation of the Instrument
3.7 Reliability
of the Instrument
3.8
Method of Data Collection
3.9
Method of Data Analysis
CHAPTER
4
RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Results
4.1.1 Socio-economic
Characteristics
4.2 Analysis
of research questions
4.3 Major
Findings
4.4 Discussion
of Findings
CHAPTER
5
SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary
5.1.1 Restatement of the Problem
5.1.2 Description of Methods Used
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Recommendations
5.4
Contribution to knowledge
5.5
Suggestion for Further Studies
References
Appendix: Questionnaire
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
to the Study
The tourism
industry, also known as the travel industry, is linked to the idea of people
travelling to other locations, either domestically or internationally, for
leisure, social or business purposes (Echtner & Ritchie, 2013). It is
closely connected to the hotel industry, the hospitality industry and the
transport industry, and much of it is based around keeping tourists happy,
occupied and equipped with the things they need during their time away from
home. The variety and richness of tourism destinations around the world have
played an important role in the success of the tourism sector since 1945
(Cooper, Schultz and Lime.2000 in Bhakuni and Aronkar 2012). Pike (2006 in
Dumpit and Fernandez 2017) defined tourism destination as a place including
continents, countries, states, villages, purpose-built resort areas which
attracts visitors for temporary Stay. Murphy, Benckdorff and Moscardo (2000 in
Hong 2018) defined tourism destination as a mix of individual products and
experience opportunities which combine to form a whole experience of the
visited area.
A tourist
destination is a geographical location which has the necessary components to
attract tourists and meet their needs (M. Djurica and N. Djurica 2010), (Pearce
1992 in Matikiti, Roberts - Lombard and
Mpinganjira 2016). A tourist destination comprises of different components
which are characterized as the 4 As (Cooper et al. 2000 in in Bhakuni et al
2012). The 4 A’S are classified as follows (Cooper, Schultz and Lime.2000 in
Bhakuni and Aronkar 2012). Attractions which motivate tourist to visit the
destination and consist of the artificial as well as natural features or
events. Amenities which include a range of supporting facilities and services
like accommodation, food, entertainment and recreation which are required by
tourists at the destination. Access in terms of development and maintenance of
transport which provides the link to the tourist destination as well as the
tourist attractions at the destination.
Image forms a
vital part in the consumer’s process of selecting a destination Baloglu and
McCleary; (Stepchenkova and Morrison 1999, 2006 in Mendes-Filho, Mills, Tan and
Milne, 2018). Images have a strong influence on travel behavior as it
represents the destination in a tourist’s mind and provides tourists with a
pre-taste of the destination. Destination image is defined as the
characteristics of a destination which influence tourists’ decision to visit
that particular destination Tapachai and Waryszak, (2000 in Nikolinakou and
Phua 2019). Baloglu and McCleary (1999 in Ramírez-Correa, Grandón,
Ramírez-Santana, & Órdenes, 2019) stated that destination images consist of
the perception of respondents and their affective evaluation of the
destination. The way the tourists feel about the destination and the physical
attributes are very important in determining a destination’s image (Echtner and
Ritchie 2003 in Konecnik, Ruzzier, and de Chernatony, 2013). The tourist’s
choice for a destination depends on his or her image of the destination
(Baloglu and McCleary, 1999; Chon, 1991; Goodrich, 1978; Hunt, 1975; Mayo,
1973; Mayo and Jarvis, 1981; Woodside and Lysonski, 1989 in Setiawan,
Setyohadi, and Pranowo, 2018). According
to Gunn (2016) destination images consist of 3 stages: Organic, induced and
modified induced images. Organic images consist of information about a
destination such as newspapers, books and radio which are developed over a long
period of time (Jenkins 2012). Induced images are formed through a destination
marketing program such as magazines and brochures in order to attract tourists.
The induced image can be modified through the actual experience of the tourist
at the destination it is therefore considered as being modified induced images.
Gartner (2010) highlighted the fact that destination image plays a very
important role in the success of a destination as a tourist is likely to look
for the destination with the most favorable image.
A tourist
destination consists of different attractions such as cultural attractions and
mountains therefore a tourist can develop multiple attitudes towards the
different attractions for example a tourist can find mountains appealing and
have a negative attitude towards cultural attractions. The new tourist is now
seeking for new experiences such as authenticity of destinations, learning
about different cultures, learning about the history of the destination and
understanding the lifestyle of the host community. Middleton & Clarke (2018)
also pointed out the fact that the tourism industry faces new and increasing
challenges nowadays which arise from the changes in environment conditions and
changes in tourist behavior. Therefore, these new trends must be taken into
consideration when a documentary platform is introduce to a destination to
improve its presence in the tourism market (Cooper, Scott, and Baggio 2009).
Documentary
constitutes the mainstay of tourism destination catalogue on events and history
of a tourism destination to the public to help their choice making about the
tourism destination (A Documentary Network’s Study – www.obsdoc.ca.2011).
Documentaries bring viewers into new worlds and experiences through the
presentation of factual information about real people, places, and events,
generally but not always portrayed through the use of actual images and
artifacts. Factuality alone does not define documentary films; it's what the
filmmaker does with those factual elements, weaving them into an overall
narrative that strives to be as compelling as it is truthful and is often
greater than the sum of its parts Hudson, Wang, and Gil, (2011). Documentaries
are often used to reveal an unusual, interesting or unknown angle. Documentary
platforms such as filmmakers are often motivated to make their films because
they feel a particular story or viewpoint is not being (adequately) covered the
tourism destination by mainstream media.
Tourism
documentary platform includes (http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/snagfilms-finds-online-works-distributing-documentary-films-1886).
Mubi formerly known as The Auteurs, is an online international cinematheque,
Voir un Film offers 215 documentaries in Vod, Dissidenz is both an independent
web portal devoted to auteur film and visual arts and an alternative
distribution platform offering 336 (as of 14/12/2010) documentaries on DVD or
VOD, Iminéo offers nearly 1,600
documentaries, mainly reportages and television formats, Medici.tv Launched in
April 2008, it hopes to become an international VOD platform for documentaries
and films on music and the performing arts (Campo, Brea & Muñiz, 2011).
Also covers documentaries on social and historical subjects, Bright Wide The
U.K.’s Brightwide (“Watch Think Link Act”) describes itself as “a new site
featuring the best of social and political cinema, where you can watch
historical tourism films, to learn more about the tourism destinations, all in
one place.” Factual.tv Self-described as
“the best online resource for documentary films”, Factual.tv is a vast film
library and a meeting place where lovers of documentary in all its forms
converge, Isuma.Tv, IsumaTV is an independent, interactive, multimedia network
of Indigenous films from Inuit to Maori filmmakers (Hahm & Wang, 2011).
ViewChange Financed in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
ViewChange is a digital platform aimed at sharing positive initiatives and
improving the lives of people in the tourism destination. Myscreen is an online
directory of VOD providers in France developed in partnership with the
Institute national de l'audiovisuel (INA) (Shani, Wang, Hudson, & Gil,
2019).
Today, it is not surprisingly that there is an abundance
of studies in relation to the harnessing and development in world tourism
destination sites in the world at large (Macionis, 2014). In relation to
Nigeria, given the importance of the tourism industry to the country’s economy
as well as the current competitive market situation, it is essential for
Nigeria tourism marketers and authorities to develop viable tourism development
that will make room for good tourism experience (Kandampully and Suhartanto,
2000). Documentary platforms in particular serve as a source of information
about destinations, since they generate awareness, and thus directly influence
their organic images.
There are numerous
tourism destinations in Abia but none of them are ranked among the top notched
world class tourism destination in the world, with little or nothing that will
attract both local and international visitors even with the abundant of natural
resources in the country (Rathnakar, 2012). Therefore, it is on the backdround
that this study seeks to carry out an assessment on the role of world
documentary platforms on tourism destination selection in order to improve
tourism destination to an enviable world class standard. The study is therefore
limited to selected tourism destination in Abia State, Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of
the Problem
Tourism
destination as a mix of individual products and experience opportunities which
combine to form a whole experience of the visited tourism destination Bhatia
(2006) in Tong 2018). Yet there is no significant and remarkable effort to
apply documentary platforms in the promotion, management and administration of
tourism by relevant tourism destination selection in Nigeria. This has
constituted a major setback or gaps that Nigeria previously known for renowned
major tourism sites ranch resort and other popular sites have depleted in value
(World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), 2019).
Preliminary
research on documentary platforms such as on-screen tourism has argued that
there is little evidence to support the idea that films could attract tourists
to visit actual film locations (Riley et al. 1998). Following suit, Williams
(2015) has encouraged future research to heed special attention to the
successes of documentary platforms as well as the psychological aspects of
tourists’ behavior as it pertains to visiting tourism destination. Despite the
fact that a number of studies have investigated the documentary platforms
phenomenon in several countries (Connell 2012), either for certain television
shows, magazine, more empirical research is needed in order to fulfill the calls
to research and understand the dynamisms related to documentary platforms on
tourism destination.
In
particular, there seems to be a lack of cross-disciplinary research between
tourism and documentary platforms studies in the Nigeria context (Al-ghaith
2015). further confirmed that much of the
recent academic literature that either reproduced preliminary studies of
documentary platforms or highlighted the role of documentary platforms in
promoting tourism have not contributed to this body of research. For example,
because Nigeria films as an example of documentary platforms are often locally
produced and thus targeted mainly for local consumption (Rosnan et al. 2010),
they may not be particularly well-known for their film products on an international
level. Furthermore, Nigeria tourism documentary films are often categorized as
‘substandard’ compared to imported tourism documentary films, which may also
contribute to the downfall of the local Nigeria tourism documentary film
industry (Ahmad 2005 in Nikolinakou and Phua 2019). For that reason, the
potential for Nigeria tourism documentary platforms to exploit their local film
industry in promoting themselves as a tourist destination remains relatively
low. A more detailed integration
between film tourism and destination branding will help tourist view this
destination and help increase the desire to visit such destination to achieve
this, it is inferred from this that cinema can be considered a creative,
innovative and strategically necessary factor for positioning tourist
destinations in the minds of consumers (Jewell & Mckinnon, 2018). It is
based on these identified problems that this study is set to provide a
structured and accurate assessment of the role of world documentary platforms on
tourism destination selection in selected destination selection in Abia State.
1.3 Objective of the Study
The main objective
of the study was to assess the role of world documentary platforms on tourism
destination selection in Nigeria.
The specific objectives of the study include;
(i)
To determine measures to
setting up documentary platforms on tourism destination selection in the study
area.
(ii)
To examine the marketing
strategies of using documentary platforms on tourism destination selection in
the study area.
(iii)
To identify the
effectiveness of documentary platforms on tourism destination selection in the
study area.
(iv)
To identify documentary
platforms capacities to encourage tourist visit to tourism destination in the
study area.
(v)
To examine the factors
which influence intention to use documentary platforms for holiday tourism
destination selection in the study area.
(vi)
To examine the factors
which influence attitude towards using
documentary platforms for holiday tourism destination selection in the study
area.
1.4 Research
Questions
The following questions guided the study
(i)
What are the measures to
setting up documentary platforms on tourism destination selection in the study
area?
(ii)
What are the marketing
strategies of using documentary platforms on tourism destination selection in
the study area?
(iii)
What is the effectiveness
of documentary platforms on tourism destination selection in the study area?
(iv)
What are documentary
platforms capacities that will encourage tourist visit to tourism destination
in the study area?
(v)
What are the factors
which influence intention to use documentary platforms for holiday tourism
destination selection in the study area?
(vi)
What are the factors
which influence attitude towards use
documentary platforms for holiday tourism destination selection in the study
area?
1.5 Significance of the Study
This research work
will be significant to managers of tourism destination establishment, owners of
tourism destination establishments, tourist and scholars.
Managers of Tourism Destination Establishment:
The findings from this study will enlighten and help improve the different
documentary platform in building sites that will motivate the tourist to the
tourism destination which will enhance the growth and world recognition of the
tourism destination. This study will help managers of tourism destination to be
relevant especially in ensuring constant business and in turn help in building
revenue generated by the destination because the tourism destination will gain
tourist attraction through constant using of documentary platform such as media
and publications.
Owners of Tourism Destination Establishments: owners
of the tourism destinations including private and government ownership will
benefit from this study by having exposure on befits of documentary platform in
improving the relevance of its destination to tourist at every part of the
world. This study will also enlighten owner of tourism destination in taking
advantage of world documentary platform to improve their image and presence to
the world at large and also attracting tourist to the destinations which in
turn will generate revenue to the destination which the main objectives the
owners has set up such destination.
Tourist: this study will help tourist define places
to go that will suit their purpose for such tour and it will enhance the
tourist in selecting various destination that will meet their demand such
education, religious, and holiday tourism destination etc.
Tourism
Destination Marketers: the study will give
insights on factors that influence the tourist’s attitude towards the use of
social networking sites for holiday destination selection; therefore, this
study is vital for marketing tourism destination with the use of magazine,
social site, cinemas, films industry to assess the role and development of the
product and experience of tourism destination selection. The marketer will find
it easy in attraction this tourist to the destination through the documentary
platform.
students: The
study will educate students of this noble institution and other institutions on
the role of world documentary platforms of tourism destination selection.
Finally, the study will serve as a reference material
to researchers who would want to research a similar topic in future.
1.6 Scope of the Study
The
study centered on the Assessment of the role of documentary platforms on
tourism destination selection in selected destination in Abia State. The
geographical scope is Umuahia Metropolis while the unit scope is some selected
tourism destination in Umuahia Metropolis.
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