Application of Environmental Protection Principle in Developing Tourism Potentials of Ebonyi State

The study assessed the application of environmental protection principles in Ebonyi State's tourism potentials. A field survey was conducted in Ebonyi South and North senatorial districts, with a sample size of 560 respondents. The research found that key tourism players in the state have not fully applied environmental protection principles to ensure the distribution of tourism resources. The study concluded that the environmental protection principle is not fully applied in the development of tourism potentials, and recommended that key players should strive to apply it as a sustainable development principle to create a connection between the environment and tourism.

this background that the researcher sets out to explore the application of environmental protection principles in developing the tourism potentials in the present study.

Statement of the Problem
Most of the tourist destinations are overflooded during the festive period due to lack of carrying capacity in the destination.For instance, over flooding of the Iyieke and Ehoma lakes during the fishing festival has resulted to loss of biodiversity, fauna, flora and aquatic animal used for tourism in the area.In the opinion of Corrad (2017), mass tourism, irrespective of its economic benefits, is termed "agent of environmental degradation, cultural commodification and the cause of general decline in the standard of living of the locals".Tourism on a large scale has been shown to increase population and becoming detrimental to the local environment.Most destinations do not apply environmental carrying capacity to determine the exact number of tourists that can visit a destination at a time.This results to the destruction of the physical, economic, socio-cultural environment and create unacceptable decline in the quality of visitors' satisfaction and the local people at large.Tourism development if not properly planned and managed sustainably could have irredeemable negative impacts such as environmental degradation, cultural disappearance, pollution, social slavery, and negative impact on local economy.Therefore, the central pillar of any development including tourism should be anchored on the sustainable development principles which is the development that will provide the needs of the present generation without compromising the provision of the needs of the future generation.

Objectives of the Study
The major objective of this study is to ascertain the environmental protection principle applicable in developing tourism potentials of Ebonyi State.Specifically, the work seeks to: 1. Know if tourism developers use physical carrying capacity in the tourist destination 2. Ascertain if the tourism developers used economic carrying capacity at the destination 3. Find out whether tourism developers use social carrying capacity at tourist destination 4. Find out if tourism developers used biophysical carrying capacity at tourist destination

LITERATURE REVIEW Environmental Protection Principle
The central thesis of this principle is that environmental protection is an important aspect of sustainable development.Most nations have formulated environmental protection laws to make sure that they achieve sustainability within their territories.To achieve sustainable development, it is pertinent to establish an effective environmental protection mechanism.This is because inadequate protection of environment or its degradation affects the poorest sections of the society, as a large part of their livelihood are drawn from available environmental resources like forests, river, mountains, caves and beaches.Therefore, policies that will ensure that the environment is protected can be achieved through carrying capacity.Tourist site planners and developers should consider carrying capacity of the tourist destination to avoid over and under tourism.Destination carrying capacity is a new approach to managing visitors in protected areas and national parks which came into existence from the fields of habitat and wildlife management.In planning for carrying capacity of a destination, managers made effort to determine the largest number of tourists that could be supported by a habitat over a long period of time.Destination carrying capacity is defined by the World Tourism (2008) as the highest number of tourists that can visit a tourist destination at a specified period, without causing destruction to the physical, economic, socio-cultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors' satisfaction.Middleton and Hawkins Chamberlain (1997) as contained in Okonkwo and Odey, 2017) defined it as "the level of human activity a place can accommodate without destroying the natural resources and the resident community being adversely affected or the quality of visitor's experience declining.According to Edward (2017), tourism planners should apply four major carrying capacity for a destination to be sustainable.These are : social , economic, physical and biophysical carrying capacities to achieve sustainability in tourism development.

Physical Carrying Capacity
This is the highest number of tourists that a destination can carry at any given time.That is the maximum number of tourists that can fit on the site at any given time and still allow people to move freely in the destination.Tourism key players in Ebonyi State should integrate physical carrying capacity into tourism development plans to ensure that the destination maintains its original state for both the present and future generation.The design and architectural structure of all destinations in the state should specify tourists' capacity at a given time so as to maintain the natural environment.

Economic Carrying Capacity
This entails a level at which the locals can accept changes within the local economy of a tourist destination.That is, the extent to which a tourist destination is able to accommodate both tourists and local activities.For instance, when souvenir store sells other essential items to the local community.This helps to increase revenue brought by tourism development.Most of the tourist attractions in the study area have been misused by the local people.Therefore, considering the creation of economic activities that will be beneficial to all tourism stakeholders while preserving the environment is of paramount to tourism key developers in the state.

Social Carrying Capacity
This is the negative socio-cultural impacts resulting from tourism development in an area.this reduces local tolerance for tourism as described by Doxey's Index of irritation.Social carrying capacity is felt when decrease in visitor's enjoyment and increase in crime indicators exceed social carrying capacity in a destination.This results to environmental damage.In planning for sustainable tourism development, tourism key players should reduce negative social-cultural impact of tourism on the host communities by designing behavioural code of conduct for both the tourists and the host communities that will revitalize the local cultural practices, enhances local image and encourages socio-cultural exchange.

Biophysical Carrying Capacity
This relates to the extent to which the ecological resources could no longer tolerate tourist's interference.This becomes more complicated because it deals with ecology which is able to regenerate to some extent.Therefore, biophysical carrying capacity is when the damage exceeds the habitat's ability to regenerate.Tourism key players should be determined to map out plans that will create equilibrium between the available tourist attraction and the number of tourists it can accommodate at a specified time to achieve sustainability.This can be done by checking excess wood logging and discouraging bush burning.

METHODOLOGY
The survey research design was adopted for the study.Data were collected from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions.According to Ponto (2016), survey research design uses either quantitative (questionnaire) or qualitative (open-ended questions) research strategies or both and often used to describe or explore human behaviour.In the present study, data were collected from Ebonyi State Ministry of Culture and Tourism staff and locals of the ten local government areas of the two senatorial districts where the attractions are located.

Study Population
The population for the study comprised residents from ten Local Government Areas in the two senatorial districts and staff of Ebonyi State Ministry of Culture and Tourism.The reason for the choice of these Local Government Areas was because the highest concentration of the tourism potentials is in these areas and the ministry is in charge of tourism planning and development in the state.The population for the study was infinite due to large population size of the State, including residents of the State.But the population for the staff of Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ebonyi State was three hundred and ten (310) as reviewed from the records of the ministry.

Sample for the Study
A total of 560 respondents constituted sample size of the study.385 was obtained across the ten (10) local governments and one hundred and sixty-one (175) from Ebonyi State Ministry of Culture and Tourism (EMCT).This is to maintain the recommended sample size for an infinite and finite population at 95% confidence level for maximal information retrieval obtained using the Cochran and Taro Yamane formula.A researcher-developed questionnaire and observation were the data collection instruments.

Analysis of Data
Data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics such as means and standard deviation.Pearson correlation coefficient was used to test the hypothesis to determine the relationship between the two variables.

Research Question
What are the environmental protection principles applied for sustainable tourism development in Ebonyi state?capacity in tourist destination Note: N = 560, SA = strongly agree, A = agree, D = disagree SD = strongly disagree, weighted average = 3.2969 Environmental protection principle applicable in developing tourism potentials were itemized in table 1 above.From the table above, about 241 (43%) respondents strongly agreed, 262 (49%) agreed while 63(11%) disagreed and 15 (3%) respondents strongly disagreed that physical carrying capacity has not been applied at the tourist destination.Also, 179(32%) respondents strongly agreed, 254(45%) agreed while 104 (19%) disagreed and 23(4%) strongly disagreed that economic carrying capacity was applied in developing the tourism potentials.Conversely, about 235 (42%) strongly agreed and 238 (43%) agreed that social carrying capacity was not used in the destination, while 72(13%) respondents disagree and 12(2%) respondents strongly disagreed that social carrying capacity was used at the destinations.lastly, about 247(44%) strongly agreed that biophysical carrying capacity was not applied.Also 231(41%) agreed while about 63(11%) disagreed and 19 (3%) strongly disagreed that biophysical carrying capacity was not applied in developing the tourism potentials of the study area.This therefore suggest that environmental carrying capacity was not applied in tourism development at the destination.Also, the result of the mean values (3.2268, 3.0518, 3.2482 and 3.2607) and average mean value of 3.2969 which is higher that the cut off mark of 2.5 further buttressed that no environmental carrying capacity was applied in developing the tourism potentials of the study area.

Test of Hypothesis
Table 2 The table above revealed the relationship between environmental principle and tourism development.The Pearson correlation coefficient (.823** >0.001) revealed that a very high positive relationship existed between environmental principle and tourism development.Also, the significant value (0.00<0.05) which is less than the alpha value shows that there was statistically significant.This implied that applying environmental principle will have positive influence in developing tourism potential sustainably in Ebonyi state.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Findings from the table above revealed that majority of the respondents agreed that environmental protection principle has not been applied for tourism development in the study area.This was evident as the weighted average (3.2969) and individual mean values of (3.2268,3.0518, 3.2482 and 3.2607) for physical, economic, social, and biophysical carrying capacity were all higher that the set mean value of 2.5.Also, the result from hypothesis on table 2, using Pearson correlation, further buttressed the findings as the result from the relationship between environmental principle and tourism development was highly positive and statistically significance (823** > 0.001) and (0.00>0.05).
This confirmed the previous study by Mato, (2016) on prerequisite of rural sustainable development in continental Croatia.The aim of the study was to outline the basic requirement for sustainable tourism development in creation using descriptive method.The findings revealed that introduction of environmental laws, carrying capacity and local community participation in tourism decision making is a way to develop sustainable tourism in Croatia.By this finding, tourism development if not properly planned, damages the environment and creates human-wildlife conflict, hijacks local tourism potentials by foreigners, decreases the wealth of the local people, causes cultural deterioration and non-community liberation and over exploitation of local natural resources.Furthermore, the finding of this study was in line with the findings in the study by Emeka, Okonkwo, and Odey (2017) on impact of sustainability on tourism development in Nigeria: A case study of Cross River State, Nigeria.The researchers also noted that the introduction of man-made structures has destabilized the ecosystem, disrupting the natural existence of biodiversity and wildlife.

Summary
From the findings of the study, it is pertinent to summarize as follows: It is very clear that tourism key players in Ebonyi state have not applied environmental protection principle in developing tourism potentials, even when the world is gradually moving away from synthetic to organic way of living and tourists are not left out of this emerging issue.Tourists are more concern about their health and want to travel in safe, secure environment that maintains its original resources.Also, the trend towards conserving ecology for the present and future generations necessitated that environmental protection principle be applied in developing tourism potentials.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This study evaluated the application of environmental protection principle in developing tourism potentials in the area.This was done by ascertaining whether environmental carrying capacity has been applied in developing the tourism potentials of Ebonyi State.It was found that despite the numerous tourism potential in the study area, tourism developers have not applied environmental protection principle for tourism development in the study areas so as to ensure that the tourism resources are conserved for both the present and future generation.From the results of the findings, the researchers recommended that tourism stakeholders should apply environmental protection principle in developing the numerous tourism potentials scattered all over the study area to ensure resource distribution for the present and future generations.

FURTHER STUDY
This research still has limitations so further research needs to be done on the topic "Application of Environmental Protection Principle in Developing Tourism Potentials of Ebonyi State."

Table 1 .
Analysis to Determine the Environmental Principle Applicable in Developing the Tourism Potentials of Ebonyi State