Promoting Ecotourism in Nigeria: The way forward

In recent time, ecotourism has become important on vital issues relating to development initiatiatives and strategiesin Africa. In low income countries, one reason for promoting ecotourism is to achieve local and national economicgrowth. Tourism in Nigeria is characterized by less attractiveness, inadequate packaging and lowlevel of
awareness among domestic and international consumers. The method adopted in this paper is desk research. Thisinvolves extensive review of past studies and discussions on ecotourism. This paper, therefore attempts to analyzeecotourism development situation in Nigeria. It sheds light on the potentials and problems of ecotourisminthecountry. The review of past studies indicated that ecotourism in the country faces diverse challenges. These includelow level of infrastructure and tourism awareness, insecurity and threats. Others are indigenous low level of incomeand poverty, bad roads as well as poor road network. Finally, the paper provides suggestions for enhancingecotourism in Nigeria. These suggestions are expected to lead to the desired local economic growth