TOURISM AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The study examined a comparative analysis of tourism on economic growth in Nigeria and South Africa between 1995 to 2021. This was in a bid to determine and compare the impact of tourism on economic growth in Nigeria and South Africa. This informed the objective of this research. Secondary annual time series data was collected from World Development Indictors (WDI) from 1995-2021. The variables used in this study were economic growth rate, tourism arrivals, tourist receipts as percentage of exports, political stability index and consumer price index. The Augmented Dicker- Fuller and Philip-perron tests were used to test for stationarity of the variables. The Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) was then used to examine the effect of tourism on economic growth in Nigeria and South Africa. The findings revealed that there is a long run causality from tourism in Nigeria and South Africa, and political stability is a critical factor in boosting the tourism industry. The study recommended that the Nigerian ministry of works and infrastructure should work with the finance minister to invest in improving tourism infrastructure such as airports, hotels, and tourist attractions to increase tourism arrivals while South Africa should focus on increasing marketing and promotional activities to attract more tourists and emphasize South Africa’s unique attractions and cultural heritage.