CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background of the Study:                         

The word hospitality is derived from hospice, a medieval word for house of rest for travellers. And even to this day, some Alphines in Europe continue the tradition of food and rest to weary travellers (Lattin, 1985).

Everywhere the traveller goes; places to stay and eat are necessities (Chucks et al, 1997). Visitors have sought rest and refreshment at public places and hotels from history. During the Roman Empire, inns grow along major highways and other accommodations were maintained along the same major highways, primarily for Government officials and persons of importance (Chuck, 1997). In some areas, small shelters were placed at stops along caravan routes. Those that travel for religious purpose looked to religious houses to give sanctuary, rest, and refreshment along the way.

The hospitality industry provides services for people who are away from home regardless of whether it is for long or short period of time. These services can vary according to the specific needs of both the person away from home and the organization operating those services (Baker et al, 2000).

The hospitality industry has contributed greatly to the development of many parts of the world. In some regions, income from it is one of the main sources of foreign exchange e.g. Fiji, the Caribbean and Hongkong (Baker et al, 2000). The industry is important because it contributes to the growth of an economy by providing a lot of employment opportunities for the people, funding a large percentage of a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), thereby helping to raise the national income, thus improving the balance of payments (Baker et al, 2005). There is no doubt that hospitality industry is a very important contributor of tourism growth   at   all   levels.   The   United   Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) confirms that between 70% and 75% of the international tourist expenditure goes to hospitality services on annual basis (Akpabio, 2007). This confirms the strategic importance of the sector to tourism.

Hospitality has since evolved into a highly competitive industry. The word itself has taken a whole new meaning now that leisure time and travel are available to the masses. Hospitality is no longer just about getting from point A to point B, but also how you get there and how you enjoy your stay. Tourism has fuelled incredible growth and development throughout the history of the hospitality industry, because people love to travel and need a place to stay (Abraham, 2001).

In view of the importance of hospitality and tourism sector to the national and state development, coupled with the much needed change that the country is badly craving for at the moment, the government of Nigeria and that of Kaduna state in particular have been struggling hard enough to provide friendly, conducive and tranquil environment for commercial and business activities (including those of the hospitality industry) in the economy to thrive. The government has put in place a number of incentives in a bid to attract investment to the state’s economy; because they realised the need for a comprehensive socio-political and economic reform of the country since not much of any development plan can succeed in the country, if it continued to be business as usual.  These incentives were put in place through the use of fiscal, monetary and/or structural adjustment policies; some of which include elaborate legal framework for conducive investment climate, which is being worked out toward the provision of adequate security measures in order to protect both the investors’ lives and their property, liberal taxation regime with adequate incentives and waivers for pioneer investors, establishment of various poverty alleviation programmes to help provide loans and grants to the youths especially, to embark on various business ventures including those that abound in the hospitality industry, among others.

When it comes to hospitality industry (especially hotels), Kaduna is of very great administrative and commercial advantages. Kaduna is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, strategically located in the North-west geo-political zone, the former capital of the defunct Northern region of the nation, and of course the “Heart Beat” of that part of the nation. Kaduna state is bountifully blessed by nature, it has rich cultural heritage and very liberal, hospitable and with peace-loving people (until of recent) when things seem to have taken a different dimension.

Fortunately enough for the state, it naturally occupies part of the central position of the northern part of Nigeria and shares common borders with Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Kano, Bauchi, Nassarawa, and Plateau states. To the South-west, the state shares a border with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.“As a Center of Learning” a number of notable, reputable and most recognised educational institutions in the country; are located in this state. In the area of tourism, the state is also a good site of tourist attraction, as it is endowed with some potential and/or existing tourist centers. Very important to note also, is the fact that Kaduna State is equally a trade center and major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas with its rail and road junctions, where most of the locally cultivated farm produce like the cassava and ginger are being bought and transported to other parts of the country for either direct consumption or for onward exportation abroad.

Given the aforementioned features of the state, most of which are prerequisites for an effective functioning and thriving of the hospitality industry (hotels), it thus becomes clear, why Kaduna State stands an advantage for the existence of this sector of the economy in this part of the nation and whose robust benefits translate into the development of her economy.   

Hence, this research study seeks to evaluate those impacts of the hospitality industry to the development of Kaduna State, but with special reference to hotels.

1.2 Statement of the Problem:

Kaduna State, being one of the famous and renowned states in the nation, possesses some good features which are supposed to serve as potentials for the hospitality industry – especially hotels to exist and thrive efficiently. For instance, the state is blessed with some Federal roads that link it to many parts of the country, one of which is the major Abuja-Kaduna Express Way, through which thousands of people across the country travel on a daily basis. Majority of these travellers sometimes choose to pause, relax, or sleep in one of the hotels in the state before proceeding with their journeys.

However, with all these features that she possesses, the performance of this sector (hotels) of the economy seemed to have been hampered by a number of factors; which may be due to the bad state or substandard nature of these hotels in the state as compared to their counterparts in F.C.T. Abuja and those in other states of the federation.

Another reason may be due to undeveloped or underdeveloped existing sites of tourist attraction, which are supposed to attract people’s attention to the industry. Other reasons may be due to recurrent insecurity challenges in the state which tend to scare people away.

The attitude of people towards who they regard hotel workers as, is also an issue; as the female folks among the workers are more often than not stereotyped “Ashawo” – meaning commercial sex workers. This has been the challenge overtime, because hotels are seen as institutions that foster sexual immorality in the society, forgetting or undermining some of the major roles it plays toward developing the economy through employment and revenue generation, the various corporate social responsibilities they do undertake, the beauty they add to our environment by way of their well decorated structures, etc. This factor alone tends to make it pretty difficult for hotels to ascertain or retain her workers, as not many people can endure being regarded who they are not i.e. bad eggs or unholy people.

Despite these problems militating against the industry, the industry still strives to thrive and thus, this study seeks to evaluate its impact on the development of the state’s economy under consideration.

1.3 Research Questions:

The study intends to find answers to the following questions:

1.    Are hotels in Kaduna state good and reliable sources of revenue generation to the state government?

2.    Have hotels contributed to the generation of employment in the state?

3.    To what extent have hotels contributed to community developmental projects in this state?

4.    To what extent have hotels improved the standard of living of the people in the state?

5.    What will be the appropriate measures that will help improve hotel management and services in order to achieve maximum benefits in this very sector of the economy?

1.4 Objectives of the Study:

 The main objective of this research study is to evaluate the impact of hospitality industry (hotels) with regards to the economic development of the state. While the specific objectives include the following:

1.          To evaluate the role of hotels in revenue generation to the Kaduna state government.

2.          To evaluate the contribution of hotels in employment generation in the state.

3.          To evaluate the contribution of hotels with regards to community developmental projects.

4.          To evaluate the extent to which hotels have improved the standard of living of the people in the state.

5.          To suggest possible ways of improving the performance ofhospitality industries in the state.

1.5       Hypotheses of the Study:

Based on the topic under consideration, the research hypotheses willbe;

Ho1:  - Hospitality industry has no significant impact to the development of Kaduna State.

Ho2: - Hotels have improved the standard of living of the peoplein Kaduna State.

The above hypotheses are relevant for the study and the results of the tests will help us accept or reject the hypotheses so stated.

1.6   Scope and Limitation of the Study:

Hospitality industry cuts across many organisations such as restaurants, bars, inns, tourism, parks, museums,motels, hotels, etc. However, this study focuses on only hotels and covers only some selected hotels within Kaduna metropolis. They include Hotel Seventeen, Hamdala Hotel and Asaa Pyramid Hotel respectively.

Meanwhile, the major limitations encountered by the researcher in the course of carrying out this research study include but not limited to the following:

1.      Time constraints due to heavy academic and spiritual workloads.

2.      Financial constraints due to lack of enough resources needed for this research work.

3.      Difficulty with regards to sourcing and ascertainment of relevant information required for this research work.

1.7 Significance of the Study:

This research work is of enormous significance in a number of ways.

1.      Having evaluated the impact of hospitality industry on the economy, it also aims at proffering antidotes to anomalies, paradventure the impacts are found to be otherwise.

2.      The findings in this study are good sources of relevant information to help guide our policymakers in policy formulation and implementation.

3.      It also serves as reference materials to our fellow students and other researchers.

4.      It equally seeks to add to the existing body of knowledge as it relates to hospitality industry.

5.      It serves as eye-opener to the general public – many of whom have ill mentality and notion with regards to what hotels entail in any given society.

6.      Moreso, the study is of great importance as it strives to add to the catalogue of the researcher’s achievement.

7.      Finally, it serves as a feedback information manual (FIM) to the hotels owners and managers, as they may learn from the information on it to redouble their efforts so that their impacts would be more pronounced than it had been.

1.8 Organisation of the Study:

The research study is structured into five chapters in all.

Chapter one deals with the preliminary aspects of the study. It provides brief overview of the study. It started with the introduction, which gives detail background to the study and also describes the statement of the problems of the study, the research questions designed by the researcher to guide the research process, the objectives of the study, the hypotheses of the study, the scope and limitation of the study, the significance of the study and the organisation of the study respectively.

Chapter two focuses on literature review. It started with a brief introduction; then continued with conceptual issues with the sub-themes for the literature review as related to the study. It also made provision for empirical review as well as theoretical review and framework respectively.

Chapter three deals with research methodology; under which contains a brief introduction, the research design, the population of the study, the sample and sampling technique, the nature and sources of data collection and the method of data analysis respectively.

Chapter four contains data presentation and analysis and include brief introduction, presentation of the data, data analysis, the test of hypotheses and the summary of the findings respectively.

Chapter five relates to summary of major findings, conclusions and recommendations of the research study respectively.

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