Impact of hospitality and tourism industry in Oshimili south local government area, Delta State, Nigeria towards sustainable economic growth.

The study focused on the impact of hospitality and tourism industry in Oshimili South Local Government Area, Delta State, with a view to ascertain its contribution to sustainable economic growth in Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to examine the impact of the hospitality industry in the achievement of sustainable economic growth, and the impact of tourism on the Standard of Living of operators as well as find out the challenges of tourism in Oshimili South Local Government Area, Delta State, Nigeria. The study was a descriptive study. The population is made up of all the hospitality industry in the three towns (Asaba, Okwe and oko) in the study area. Two towns in Oshimili South Local Government Area, Delta State were selected using purposive sampling technique, while simple random sampling technique was used to select 800 respondents in both the two towns selected for the study respectively. Structured questionnaires were used as instruments for data collection in the study. Data generated was analyzed using descriptive statistics which included frequency, percentages as well as mean rating where mean of 2.50 and above was accepted and below 2.50 was rejected. Findings revealed hospitality industry has positively impacted on the provision of employment and that the tourism industry has also positively impacted on the standard of operators in Oshimili South Local Government Area. However, it was revealed that funding was a major challenge of tourism and the hospitality industries in Oshimili South Local Government Area. It was recommended that there is need for more people to be encouraged to more investors to engage in the tourism and hospitality industry. This would help to reduce the level of unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]