Sports Tourism as an Instrument for Nigeria's Development in the 21st Century: Challenges and Way Forward

Abstract

The paper x-rays sports tourism as an instrument for Nigeria's development in the 21st century. Some of the challenges to Nigeria's tapping of sports tourism for development were discussed. Sports are social events that make people to travel to cities, countries and continents of the world. Sports tourists temporarily leave and travel outside their homes staying at least 24 hours to either actively or passively participate in sporting events. Many countries have realized the economic importance of sports and tourism. Countries and cities bid to host mega sports events such as Olympics Games and World Cup. Sports tourism has both short-term and long-term benefits to the host city or country. Sports tourism is one of the non-oil sectors that contributes to the economic, social, political, infrastructural and cultural development of the host city. Sports tourism in Nigeria is marred due to security, infrastructural, corruption and sports management challenges. These challenges must be tackled if Nigeria is to benefit from the developmental potentials of sports tourism. Hence, necessary recommendations were made.

Key words: Mega, economic, social, political, infrastructure, culture.