Lagos Bar Beach
WHILE COUNTRIES SERIOUS ABOUT TOURISM ARE DEVELOPING AND RESTORING
THEIR TOURIST SITES WITH HUGE MULTIPLIER EFFECTS, NIGERIA SEEMS TO BE ON
THE PATH TOWARDS DESTROYING ONE OF ITS MOST POPULAR TOURISM LEGACIES
(THE LAGOS BAR BEACH) AND THE MEMORIES IT HOLDS. OMOLOLA ITAYEMI WRITES
ABOUT BAR BEACH’S METAMORPHOSIS TO A REAL ESTATE AND THE NEGATIVE IMPACT
ON TOURISM
The Bar beach on Ahmadu Bello way, Victoria Island is officially closed
to the public, don’t let the colourful kiosks and huge boulders fool
you, its no more for lounging by the sea-side, collecting sea-shells,
swimming (if you are that brave), religious, traditional and other
entertaining activities.
Any attempt to walk towards it, sometimes just as soon as you’re
alighting from your car, security personnel tell you to leave in no
smiling manner, demanding you go to Elegushi Beach, a smaller beach,
some kilometres away, if you wish to enjoy that beach experience.
Disappointed, people leave. Eko Atlantic City project is on (the land
reclamation actually started in February 2008 with a seven-year dredging
operation planned to create 8,000 square metres of new land every day
but was officially declared last year in a glitzy ceremony including
Bill Clinton, former President of the United states) and Bar Beach is
part of it. Cranes, bull dozers and other construction equipments
littered all over the beach line shows active work in progress and
dashing the hopes of fun seekers still visiting hoping to savour some
tranquil moments or just gaze at the beach for motivation etc
With the World Tourism Organization [WTO] estimation that tourism
accounts for up to 10% of global gross domestic product (GDP), making it
the world’s biggest and fastest developing industry, are we not
circumventing tourism’s potential to contribute significantly to GDP.
