Tourism has been noted to be one of the important sectors of the Nigerian economy. Tourism is a highly complex activity which requires tools that aid in an effective decision-making to come to terms with the competing economic, social and environmental demands of sustainable development. Geographic Information System (GIS) is one of such tools. GIS being an information system that is capable of answering questions about where facilities and resources are located represents enormous benefits to the tourism sector of any economy. The power of GIS lies not only in the ability to visualize spatial relationships, but also beyond the space to the holistic view of the world with its many interconnected components and complex relationships. The use of GIS technology could assist the Anambra State government as well as the Nigerian government with better planning of tourism infrastructure, location and dissemination of such infrastructure, production of better quality maps showing tourists sites etc because of the dynamic capability of GIS tools to incorporate changes that occur over time to its database. A GIS database for tourism in Anambra State was created using some selected roads, tourist attractions and facilities with the aid of base maps and GPS. This paper presents the significant role that GIS can play in tourism development in Anambra State if a complete database for tourism in the State is designed and developed.

Application of Tourist Area Life Cycle (TALC) in tourism destinations in the global south (i.e., Nigeria) is limited despite its predictive values. This study evaluates ecotourism destinations in southeastern Nigeria using the TALC model and its implications to tourism planning and development. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews were used in the study, and the results were discussed based on variables in the model. The results showed the following: "Instant resorts" were developed near lakes; limited development and stagnations, the uncertainty of destination growth, stages overlap , among others were characteristics of tourism destinations in southeastern Nigeria due to socio-political landscape shaping tourism in Nigeria. Tourism destinations in the region fall between exploration and development stages; this is not unconnected to government "slapdash attitude" to tourism. Conversely, the status of these destinations offers the opportunity for community involvement for sustainability reasons. The qualitative means used to gauge tourism destinations' stages is novel and worthy of academic attention; it is invaluable where numeric data are missing. The study is suggestive of theoretical underpinning in tourism studies in developing nations.

Goal and objectives of the dissertation GoalTo evaluate potential ecotourism attractions for sustainable tourism development in Anambra State.

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