FACTORS AFFECTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCIAL RECREATION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1.BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:

Concept of Recreation and Leisure

Recreation is defined by Elmer 1973, as an act of experience selected by the individual during his leisure to meet a personal want or desire, primarily for his own satisfaction. Recreation is referred to as leisuretime activities. Recreation is the major reason why people engage in touristic movement. Burkart and Medlik 1988 say all Tourism and recreationalinvolves recreation, but not all recreation is tourism. Recreation habit if developed and nurtured leads to the development of Tourism and recreational culture. Leisure refers to a time frame, that is a time when an individual is not working, studying; the time that can be spent as one pleases, ones free time, the time that is left after formal duties and the necessities of life have been cared for, the time beyond existence and subsistence Bucher and Bucher, 1974; Kraus, 1966. Recreation is concerned with the recreative that is activity that will bring about a renewal of spirit and the body; activities that have the potentialities for enrichment of life through the development of the intellect. It is opposed to activities that are harmful to a person or to the society, physically, socially and otherwise Bucher and Bucher, 1974; Kraus, 1966. The aim of recreation is to rest and rejuvenate, and rebuild the body up from a breakdown situation. The rebuilding up process through leisuretime activities does not end with the physical body but extends to the mental component of the individual, thereby enabling him to achieve a balanced life. It is a common knowledge that a greater percentage of the Nigerian population lacks recreation habit/Tourism and recreationalculture. Okorafor 1993 says by definition and its contemporary concept and practice, Tourism and recreationalis alien to Nigerian primal culture OmorogbeOsagie 1995 says Nigerians have not come to realize as yet the significance of taking a break from their normal jobs or business via recreation and leisure pathways. The habit of saving towards going to other places of tourist importance has not yet been formed by most Nigerians whether the most affluent ones, through the average affluent ones to the low income brackets. Nimenibo, 1993 says this tourism culture being alien has its own problems but it is the foundation for a steady growth in tourism.

While family and community recreation activities have existed in one form or another since prehistoric times, the same cannot be said for commercial recreation and tourism. The invention of money by the Sumerians in Babylonia and their development of trade are probably the beginnings of the modern era of travel. Early travel, however, was primarily for war or business purposes. Few recreation seekers would put up with the discomforts and dangers of travel in those days. In the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian civilizations, recreation included hunting, horse racing, wrestling, boxing, archery, music, dancing, and drama. To provide these opportunities, the ruling classes employed free men or forced slaves to work. Similarly, the affluent people of the early Greek civilization sponsored paid athletes to compete in a variety of sports events. The Romans also used slaves and professionals to provide music, drama, and dance. Their Colosseum in Rome was the site of 100 daylong sport spectacles each year. Eventually, the Greeks and Romans improved roads and naval travel in order to control their empires. With these improvements, Tourism and recreationalbecame safer and more comfortable. This theme of military technology literally paving the way for Tourism and recreationalhas been repeated throughout history. As early as 334 B.C., Alexander the Great attracted 700,000 tourists in a single season to Turkey, where they were entertained by acrobats, animal acts, jugglers, magicians, and circus performances. The ancient Greeks traveled to the Olympic Games, to spas, to festivals, and to the pyramids in Egypt. These and other events provided an early stimulation for travel other than for commerce or defense About.com, 2005. Romans

also traveled extensively, having 175 holidays for leisure and recreation. It was possible to cover up to 100 miles per day on the paved roads and even more by ship. Roman tourists were much like todays tourists, using guidebooks, employing guides, visiting the pyramids, shopping for souvenirs, and leaving graffiti behind Goeldner, Ritchie, amp; McIntosh, 2000. Early tourists stayed in visitors rooms that were part of private dwellings or in commercial inns. Housing, feeding, and entertaining the travelers became an important industry. About this time, seaside resorts and spas with medicinal waters became popular destinations.

1.2.STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:

Imo state is one of the developing state in Nigeria. Its recreational status is of a great interest of study due to is dull development since the inception of the state.

To this end, this therefore forms the statement of the problem of the study.

I.The underdevelopment of the recreational sector in Imo state

II.The lack of interest in this sector by the government.

III.The missguided concept about the recreational industry

IV.The collapse of other industry that depends on recreation.

1.3.OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

The objective of this study is to evaluate the factors affecting the development of commercial recreation in Imo state. Commercial recreation is relatively young and the objective for corporations to invest and participate in commercial recreation platform is to offer an alternative mode of relaxation and also it helps to cultivate long term relationships with their visitors; Such as promotional campaigns and new information can be pushed through commercial recreation channels. Among others are a list of additional objectives that the researcher want to cover in the study.

1.To highlight the factors affecting commercial recreation development.

2.To promote the development of tourism and encourage recreational activities.

3.To ascertain the impact of commercial recreation to the development of the state.

1.4.SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

Currently the hype surrounding commercial recreation strategies for marketing is on the increase, but Imo state is still trying to cope and see the advantage from the latest trends. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter as means of advertising it is also growing daily. Challenges faced by Imo state recreational is the how to engage the consumers and to lead them towards becoming a visitors or share their experience for the recreation within their virtual network. This research work therefore tends to throw more light to the opportunities that can be found in commercial recreation. It is believed that the success of the project work will bring about a rejuvenation of the Imo state commercial recreational sector.

1.5.RESEARCH QUESTION:

For the course of this research work the researcher framed out some research question which shall guide the researcher to carry out this research work successfully, the research question will be administered to the respondents and samples of the research question are.

1.Have you ever been to take recreation either alone or with your family, relation or friends

2.Can the social media be a source of advertisement to you about the commercial recreational industry

3.The number of visitors turned in how many gets satisfaction from the commercial recreation

4.Does Imo state have an official web address/website where commercial recreation can be carried out

5.Apart from the social media, which other means is available for commercial recreational centres to use in reaching out to people as an advertising scheme

1.6.RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

According to Aguburu 2001, the word Hypotheses is a set of assumptions which are accepted provisionally as a basis for investigation. It is formulated in the form of statements whose truth is to be tested. The following are hypotheses for this research work:

1.H0: There is a significant impact of the commercial recreational centre in Imo state.

H1: There is no a significant impact of the commercial recreational centre in Imo state.

2.H0: The social media network will be a major source of advertising the commercial recreational centre in Imo state.

H1: The social media network will not be a major source of advertising the commercial recreational centre in Imo state.

1.7.LIMITATION OF THE STUDY:

This study is based on secondary data and personal approach to evaluate the effects of marketing and social media in the hospitality industry. The advantage of using secondary data source is the fact that such information exists. It is less time consuming and data gathering cost is reduced on studies as compared to using primary data collection.

According to Stewart and Kamins, the disadvantage of secondary data is when collecting, reporting and interpreting the information; it consists of its own set of problems. The data collected tend to produce deliberate and intentional bias, hence the findings has the potential to arrive at varying conflicting conclusions Stewart, amp; Kamins, 1993. It can be hard to validate. Thus conclusion drawn from secondary sources must be done carefully.

The study will attempt to focus on issues in commercial recreation in Imo state by utilizing secondary data to illustrate the matter stated with examples.