Effectiveness of Visa Facilitation and International Openness as Strategies for Tourism Development: A Comparative Study of Nigeria and Selected African Countries (Published)
This study examined the effectiveness of visa facilitation and international openness as strategies for tourism development with focus on Nigeria and other selected countries in Africa. Visa/international openness involve the policies of the government of a particular country to be more open to citizens of other countries through visa facilitation. A longitudinal survey was carried out to collect data on international tourist arrivals, international tourism receipts and index on Nigeria visa requirements from the database of World Bank and World Economic Forum. The data were collected for a period of 14 years from 2006-2019. Pearson Correlations was used to examine the relationships between the dependent and independent variables. Meanwhile, a cross-sectional analysis was done to compare the position of Nigeria and other African countries. The study found that there was a weak relationship between visa requirements and international tourist arrivals, and international tourism receipts. The positions of Nigeria in Africa and globally show lack of efforts by the government in visa requirements and international openness which is negatively affecting international tourist arrivals and tourism receipts.
Keywords: tourism; visa facilitation; international openness; development; Nigeria; Africa