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. Conceptual framework Input Transformation Output Implication International Visitors Attraction Outcome 1. Excitement 2. Learning 3. Solitude 4. Others For: 1. Preservation of Protected areas 2. Management Agenda 3. Others Feedback Loop 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. Individual CharacteristicsFrequencyPercent (%) Sex Male114360.2 Female 75739.8 Nationality Dutch 37019.5 British 36519.2 North Americans 28715.1 Germans 27614.5 Austrians 85 4.5 Canadians 73 3.8 Belgian 64 3.4 Swiss 62 3.3 French 56 2.9 Swedish 54 2.8 Occupation Students 83243.8 Educationists/ Researchers 40021.1 Professionals 39220.6 Volunteers 144 7.6 Tour operators/travel consultants 92 4.8 Retirees 25 1.3 Clergy 11 0.6 Homemakers 4 0.2 Travel profile/party size 1 92548.7 2-3 32717.2 4-5 51 2.6 6 and above 59731.5 Profile of international tourists of Owabi Wildlife Sanctuary 31

11. Benefits DomainExamples of comments by visitorsFrequency Percent (%) Total (%) Being close to nature Experience nature471.6 18.7 Enjoy natural scenery51217.1 EscapeExperience solitude1796.0 Relaxation Rest mentally170.6 11.9 Enjoy the smell and sound of nature32911.0 Help release built-up tension100.3 Learning Learn more about natural history44514.9 23. Keep physical fit2056.8 Learn more about nature341.1 Experience new and difficult things190.6 Improve Well-being Experience scene of personal freedom40.1 0.9 Help me to recover from everyday stress200.7 Help reduce depression and anxiety30.1 Adventure and ExcitementExperience excitement95031.7 Enjoy different temperature than110.4 37.6 Doing something challenging100.3 Experience adventure1575.2 Dissatisfaction Ant bites, lack rest stops, unable to sight animals 44 1.5 1.5 Total2996100 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 Individual Profile Close to Nature (%) Escape (%) Relaxation (%) Learning (%) Improve Well-being (%) Excitement (%) Dissatisfactio n (%) Total Nationality Dutch American Belgian German British Swiss Canadian Austrian French Swedish Italian 34.6 30.7 26.6 28.6 26.0 43.5 35.6 12.9 48.2 16.7 35.0 10.0 9.4 14.7 6.2 11.2 1.6 20.5 0.0 8.9 13.0 15.0 23.0 22.6 17.2 17.4 17.3 6.5 12.3 4.7 25.0 16.7 22.5 38.1 38.7 35.9 38.0 43.6 43.5 23.3 9.4 30.4 50.0 10.0 1.9 0.0 1.6 2.9 0.3 0.0 5.6 0.0 53.0 49.1 68.8 59.8 60.0 61.3 46.6 99.8 48.2 33.3 52.5 3.2 2.8 0.0 2.9 13.6 0.0 5.5 0.0 10.0 370 287 64 276 365 42 73 85 56 54 40 Sex Male Female 28.1 31.4 9.3 9.6 17.6 20.5 34.8 40.3 1.3 1.6 60.9 57.1 2.4 2.1 1143 757 Occupation Student Teachers/ Researchers Volunteers Professionals Clergy Travel operators Retiree Homemaker 31.6 33.0 18.8 27.8 27.3 19.6 28.0 0.0 7.5 13.2 13.5 27.3 12.0 0.0 25.0 18.9 18.0 22.9 18.6 9.1 13.0 28.0 25.0 32.6 36.8 38.9 48.0 27.3 26.1 52.0 25.0 2.2 0.3 1.4 1.3 9.1 0.0 66.6 55.0 61.1 45.7 45.5 71.7 44.0 99.0 2.2 4.5 0.0 2.0 0.0 832 400 144 392 11 92 25 4

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