Ecotourism Experiences of International Visitors of Owabi Wildlife Sanctuary, Ghana

1. Ecotourism Experiences of International Visitors of Owabi Wildlife Sanctuary, Ghana BY Francis Eric Amuquandoh Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management University of Cape Coast, Ghana

2. Introduction • World wide national parks and protected areas have become popular for ecotourism. • Providing for ecotourism and quality recreation have become an important activity many Forestry Departments and Agencies around the world. • Ghana is among African countries promoting ecotourism.

3. Introduction cont’d • Reasons • Diversify the country’s tourism product. • Spread benefits of tourism to rural areas. • Stem rural urban drift. • Provide economic justification for maintaining protected areas.

4. Statement of the Problem • There is dearth of information on eco-tourists experiences in the national parks in Ghana. • Most of the previous studies have focused on the effects of the national park on the host communities. • Awusabo-Asare et. al., 1999 • Dei, 2000 • Akyeampong, 2010 • The paper contributes in addressing this imbalance by investigating into tourists’ experiences in Owabi Wildlife Sanctuary.

5. Objectives • Highlight on the profile of visitors to the Sanctuary. • Assess experiences gained by international tourists from Owabi Wildlife Sanctuary. • Explore tourists’ experiences across social groupings.

6. Significance • The findings may be useful to destination managers in product development. • May be useful in product marketing. • At the global scale, the study contributes to understanding of eco-tourists’ characteristics, expectations & experiences. • It could serve as a framework for evaluating benefits and experiences offered to visitors in other protected areas in Ghana.

7. Input Transformation Output Implication Feedback Loop International Visitors Attraction Outcome 1. Excitement 2. Learning 3. Solitude 4. Others For: 1. Preservation of Protected areas 2. Management Agenda 3. Others Conceptual framework Input-Transformation-Output Relationship

8. Study area

9. Methodology • The target population was international tourists at Owabi Sanctuary from 2003 to 2008. • Sample size of 2,900. • Data was analysed through the content analysis method on written comments and observations made by visitors to Owabi Sanctuary. • The post coding method was employed in assigning values to the comments.

10. Profile of international tourists of Owabi Wildlife Sanctuary 31

11. Benefits Domains and Individual Benefits by visitors

12. Sources of dissatisfaction • Ant bites • Hot temperatures • Difficulty in sighting wildlife • Narrow trails • Lack of rest places • High entrance fees

13. Experiences by Visitor’s Profile

14. Conclusions • Visitors’ statistics compiled by the Ghana Wildlife Department (2003-2008) suggest there is consistent increase in the number of international tourists to Owabi Sanctuary. • The finding also suggest the establishment & promotion of Owabi as national park has been largely successful. • Since learning is the second most important experience at the Sanctuary, it is fulfilling some of its core mandates

15. Conclusion cont’d • Visitors’ books can be particularly revealing of the on-site experiences in an ecotourism site. • Experiences encountered by eco-tourists at national parks and protected areas are mixed and diverse. • Visitors’ experiences have both positive and negative implications for the attraction.

16. Recommendations • National parks in Ghana should maintain good • visitors’ books. • Park managers should make effort to educate • visitors of some things they expect tropical forest. • Experiences of visitors in the Owabi wildlife • sanctuary needs to monitored in order to continued • to generate satisfied visitors

17. Thank You