Assessment of Nupe Cultural Features towards Establishment of Tourism Destination at Nupeko, Niger State

Abstract

The success of tourism in a community depends largely on the ability of the community to develop, create, manage and market tourist facilities within. It has been established that the need to harness tourism potential in Nigeria as a whole is of enormous concern. There is therefore need to showcase tourism through architecture in the country. The Nupe ethnic group, native in the Middle Belt of Nigeria is identified to be culturally rich in arts and crafts. However, previous studies have revealed that in spite of the natural human and physical resources available, tourism within the area is still at an appalling level, as these resources are left to lie fallow without any form of development. Tourism on the other hand requires that the residents of such communities are carried along towards showcasing their unique cultural attributes. To achieve this, questionnaires were distributed to selected family heads to generate information on key attributes of the people, as well as focus group discussions carried out with elderly members of the community in order to obtain data on historical cultural values and perception, spatial and cultural attributes of the people, in order to obtain unique characteristics. Also the findings showcased unique cultural attributes of the Nupe community. The data obtained was analysed using content analysis for the qualitative data on spatial analysis. The study conclusively identified the possibility of integrating cultural features, values and perceptions in the design of tourism destination at the historic town of Nupeko in Niger State, Nigeria.