Abstract :
The perception of Ikogosi Ekiti community residents to the impact of Ikogosi Warm Spring for ecotourism development was studied. Data obtained with semi-structured questionnaire on 150 respondents randomly selected in the community were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages. Majority (90.7%) of the respondents were indigenes of Ikogosi, of which 35.3% was between 31 and 40 years old. Most (70.8%) respondents agreed that government (70.8%) and the tourism staffs (19.8%) whose larger percentage were non-natives benefited most from the Warm Spring. Similarly, 64.0% of the respondents agreed that tourism development has brought some developmental changes to the community as well as positive sociocultural impacts but was small and at a slow rate. Furthermore, 90.6% of respondents agreed that protection of the natural environment for tourism will protect the continuity of plant and animal in their natural habitats. Some respondents (70%) believed that tourism prevents the local people’s access to the natural resources. Therefore, despite the benefits of ecotourism development in Ikogosi Warm Spring to the Ikogosi-Ekiti community, these unequally distributed benefits have in advertently influenced their perceptions of ecotourism. Government should, therefore, create enabling environment to accommodate the natives in the day-to-day running of the ecotourism center and also provides incentives for the indigenes of the community in the form of scholarships for school pupils and vocational training to the youth.
Keyword :
Key words: Continuity, ecotourism, indigenes, perception, scholarship, sociocultural