Harnessing Tourism Potentials of West African States (Ecowas) in Advancing the Promotion of Tourism

Abstract West Africa is a big territory that boasts of a rich history, beautiful scenery, friendly people and a varied geography, extraordinary bio-density, a rich ecological system; extensive history, varied culture and famous for its two features Sahara desert and Niger River. There are fifteen (15) countries that made the region, which are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo, all blessed with various tourism destination but untapped. The destination of this paper was the tourism potentials of each state, the opportunities and challenges in advancing the promotion of the tourism potentials of each states and harnessing the tourism destinations of each of the West African States has been identified. The paper concludes that there are weaknesses that are damaging the image of the entire states and to address these challenges thereby promoting and harnessing its tourism competitiveness; an effective promotion of the tourism sector is required through mass media campaign and provision of tourism infrastructure. The paper recommended that there is the need for political will of each State, investment in tourism, potentials, and the importance of respecting and appreciating the roles of partnership between the private and public sectors.