THE IMPACT OF RAILWAY TRANSPORTATION ON TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The role of transportation in the development of tourism has been and continues to be a controversial issue, it is controversial in the sense that many schools of thought exist concerning its role vis-à-vis development. Storey (1969) and Dawson and Barwell (1993) have for instance classified the impact of transportation on regional development into positive, neutral and negative. In the positive case, transportation acts as a stimulus to further development while the neutral effect applies where transport facilities do not themselves bring about productive activities. The negative case related to situations in which it brings about increase migration, spread of disease or decline in the level of per capital income. Numerous scholars have expressed divergent views, which follow the basic structure of Storey’s classification. For example, Hunter (1965) and Wilson (1966) point out the neutral effect of transport on regional development. Filani (1995) explained the role of transportation on rural development, Salau and Baba (1984) reported the effect of transport on settlements change and development. Eliot Hurst (1974) and Stephen (1998) further states that access has no meaning without resources to be utilized. This implies that the development of transportation infrastructure should occur only where there are resources to be developed; where as in another study, Dodgson (1974) and Chou (1971) also shows that highway construction may not always lead to regional development. The negative effect of transportation on regional development is further demonstrated by Chatzionnou (1989) and Chang (1989). On the other hand the studies by Janelle (1959) Bierman and Rydzkowski (1991) as well as Sammer (1981) in their work have proved that there is a positive impact of transportation on regional development. Thus, while views may differ, the general conclusion is that the development of major transport network can develop tourism which will contribute positively to reconciling environmental protection, economic development and the fight against poverty, (Sammer, 1981; Halsall, 1992 and Pearce, 1997; Curtis and Kokotos, 2009; Brida et al., 2010; Dodds and Butler, 2010).
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