This paper investigates perception and awareness of secondary schools’ students towards ecotourism in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo state, Nigeria. Stratified random and purposive sampling techniques were employed for the study. A total of two hundred and forty students (240) were selected from 12 schools (six public and six private) for the study. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings from this study showed that 55.8% of the students were female, 80.4% and 15.0% were within the age range of 11-15 years and 0-10years respectively, 60.0% were Christian, and 39.2% were Islam. The findings also revealed how students felt about ecotourism. 88.8% of students believed that ecotourism is important, 92.5% agreed that it need to be taught in schools, and 89.6% felt that ecotourism destinations should have support by the government. Furthermore, the results showed the students’ level of awareness regarding ecotourism: 50.8% of them did not know about it, 68.3% were taught about it in school, 89.2% reported that their school did not have an ecotourism social club, 50.8% was aware about ecotourism sites, and 56.7% had visited them. The mean weight score and perception score of students for ecotourism awareness and perception were all positive. There is no significant relationship between ecotourism awareness of the students and their perception about ecotourism. Also, the correlation between awareness and perception is 0.101, which is positive but not statistically significant (p-value = 0.118). This suggests that there is a weak positive relationship between ecotourism awareness and perception, but this relationship is not strong enough to conclude that there is a significant relationship. The study recommends that ecotourism education should be integrated into the school curriculum to increase the awareness and knowledge of students about ecotourism and the government should support ecotourism sites by providing necessary infrastructure and policies that promote conservation of natural resources.
Keywords: Ecotourism, Secondary School, Students, awareness, ecotourism initiatives
