Abstract

The main objective of this study was to examine the contribution of economic activities to actors in the Vatican Express Travelling Agency Bamenda. A case study research design was used for the study. Relevant data were collected through a structured questionnaire.

Subjects for the study consisted of employees and economic actors of Vatican Travelling Agency Bamenda. SPSS version 26 was used for data analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis.

The statistical tools were aligned with the objective of the research. For this purpose, frequency tables, pie charts, cluster bar charts, and percentages were computed and substantively interpreted.

The findings from the study show the adjusted R2 values of 0.760 which indicates that economic activities independently explain 76.0% of the variation in growth of Vatican Express Travelling Agency.

The study concluded that economic activities have a significant effect on the growth of the Vatican Express Travelling Agency.

Therefore, it was recommended that those Actors of Economic activities should actively participate in economic activities carried in Vatican Express Travelling Agency since they significantly contribute to the growth of the company.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

For age-long decades, traveling has always been a part of man. People travel for various reasons ranging from commerce, education, pleasure, relaxation, exploration, events, and even for the fun of it. Traveling for various purposes is associated with a man (Walker and Walker, 2011).

Traveling dates back to the existence of man (Ashamu, 2007). He added that it was in the course of traveling, economic activities were discovered.

Right from the prehistoric period to the Neolithic age precisely between 4000 and 5000 B.C, individuals traveled for the purpose of their safety and to fend for their needs. One of the factors that contribute to the social and economic development of a nation is having a dependable and efficient transportation system.

Hiraide (2021) Several cross-border land corridor projects have been implemented worldwide because land transport is a vital alternative to international maritime transport in inter-regional transport.

Maritime transport generally costs less than land transport, but it is much slower. Nonetheless, land transport can be more appropriate than maritime in certain situations.

This study aims to identify factors that can help select between these two modes in long-distance inter-regional cross-border transport; to this end, a Tobit model is employed to estimate the dependent variable, ie, the land ratio of origin-destination pairs between countries and/or areas.

Eight variables are identified as significant: distance, export of manufacturing commodity, landlocked country/area, neighboring country/area, country risk, infrastructure level, port-access time, and maritime transport frequency. We also find that geographical conditions, country relationships, and regulations are barriers to selecting land transport. However, cross-border land corridors contribute to the increase of land ratio.

Rajasekhar (2021) Urban passenger land transport in Europe is an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally, but it is challenging to mitigate these emissions as this sector interacts with many other economic sectors.

We develop the Climate change constrained Urban passenger Transport Integrated Life cycle assessment (CURTAIL) model to outline mitigation pathways of urban passenger land transport that are consistent with ambitious climate targets.

CURTAIL uses the transport activity of exogenously defined modal shares to simulate the associated annual vehicle stocks, sales, and life cycle GHG emissions. It estimates GHG emission budgets that are consistent with global warming below 2 and 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels and seeks mitigation strategies to remain within the budgets.

We apply it to a case study of Singapore, a city-state. Meeting a 1.5 °C target requires strong commitments in the transport and electricity sectors, such as reducing the motorized passenger activity, accelerating the deployment of public transit and of electrification, and decarbonizing the power generation system.

Focusing on one mitigation technology or one mode of transport alone will not be sufficient to meet the target. Our novel model could be applied to any city to provide insights relevant to the design of urban climate change mitigation targets and policies.

Our economy and social wellbeing are critically dependent on the road haulage system (McKinnon, et al., 2007). Transport is an intergalactic part of a modern-day society, designed to provide efficient and economic movement between the components parts of a county and offers maximum possible mobility of all citizens (Ritov, 2007).

Transport is so central to all economic activities in moving raw materials to factories, labor to worksites, input and output along the supply chain, customers to service, and products to consumer (Trevor, 2015).

Barwell (1993) asserts that transportation enhances the regional development of a country, though it has a positive, negative, and neutral effect on an economy. In the positive light, it triggers rapid development, in the negative, it leads to migration, the easy spread of diseases, and while in the neutral, are cases where transport facilities do not contribute to productivity at all.

Transportation helps in the wealth creation of an economy, even as it helps bring investors who will utilize the available resources of the nation; it equally helps in the exportation of goods and services.

Transportation contributes to improving the standard of living of people because it helps to generate income for those who are into it and the residents of areas where these Travelling Agencies are situated (Lucas,1998). economic activities cannot be fully achieved without transportation, as it is what drives economic activities.

Basically, it is known that Vatican Express Travelling Agency is one of the oldest agencies in Bamenda town. It is said that the Vatican Express Travelling Agency in its beginning in the year 1958 and it usually have rich customers.

Staff developed a travel package for customers that love to travel and then it made a great mark to many travelers in the market. In the 19th century, many Vatican Express Travelling Agency was already present since that first travel agency became very famous especially to rich people that want a hassle-free vacation.

They realize that it is convenient and practical to have a package holiday tour rather than doing things by themselves with all the preparations and planning. Many tourists love the idea of package holiday tours since they need to wait for the time of their vacation.

Despite performing well over the years to 2021, Travelling Agencies have experienced a reversal of fortune over the current year as a result of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. As a result of the pandemic, the majority of passengers adopted stringent social distancing guidelines set forth by the government of Cameroon, with most individuals canceling their trips or holding off on planning new ones in favor of obeying the recommended shelter-in-place orders.

Moreover, the wide-ranging negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the Cameroon economy have compounded consumers’ reluctance to seek out the services provided by Travelling Agency.

Basically, Travelling Agencies can assist you in planning your trip or someone has to be responsible for all the preparations you will need. In Vatican Express Travelling Agency, there is a retail business at assists customers in planning, reserving, and preparing vacation holiday tours or only transportation and accommodation you need to have.

Traveling through Vatican Express Travelling Agency for Exploring Tourism gives the best traveling experience. Vatican Express Travelling Agency has partnered with the best and most experienced travel agent to provide you with the perfect and specialized tour package.

They plan your tour according to your budget, duration, and interest. Vatican Express Travelling Agency also helps you with your airport transfer, guide, hotel, sightseeing, and all kinds of activities in Cameroon.

For Exploring Tourism Vatican Express Travelling Agency is outdo at helping you get your trip planned. Not just trips, but exceptional trips filled with exciting and life-enriching experiences. Vatican Express Travelling Agency is an expert at handcrafting and coordinating complex itineraries in Cameroon.

Their expertise encompasses all logistics, accommodation, guides, transportation, and insider access to exceptional experiences as well as round-the-clock support throughout your trip. So, explore Cameroon with us to get life’s best travel experience.

In Vatican Express Travelling Agency they sell products that are related to passengers. They also give out great customer service to every client that they will have in order that you will understand the nature of the work of such agencies it is very important to know the history and background of the industry.

Vatican Express Travelling Agency basically take care of the services or preparation for suppliers like airline companies; they basically will be the one that will take care in preparing and reserving ticket for the customer. This is a very convenient way so that you will not be worried and it is less stressful for you to do all the preparation on a trip.

Vatican Express Travelling Agency also assists you in preparing for renting cars or cruise liners depending on the type of vacation holiday you will get. This is also a great way so that you will be able to free yourself from all the burden of calling car rentals in the place.

The agency basically has connections with hotels, transportations and excursion buses that are needed in your travel. You need to keep in mind that they can also give you discounted rates on the trip that you will want.

Economic activities and transportation are used interchangeably by people, but it is pertinent to know that there are two different things; all economic actors are travelers but not all travelers are economic actors (Chadwick, 1994).

Road transportation is a very common means of transportation among Cameroon. Most Cameroonians prefer traveling by road not because it is the safest, but tends to be the cheapest after water transportation.

Bearing in mind that transportation and economic activities are both linked together, road transport seems to be the best as it has support services that promote economic activities like fuel stations, auto mechanics, and even rest facilities (Culpan, 1987).

Currently in Cameroon, there are many Travelling Agencies competing for travelers; the competition is really much as we now have Travelling Agencies going the extra mile to offer great services to their passengers in other to stay on top of the competition.

These days we have cars with car conditioners, price reduction for families traveling with infants, etc. However, the travel and economic activities sector of Cameroon has been growing in limbs and bounds recently.

Based on a report from the World Travel and economic activities Council (WTTC), this sector has greatly increased the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Cameroon in the past few years. Furthermore, not minding the current recession, the travel and economic activities industry is contributing to help revive the economy.

Due to this, the government has embarked on measures to help sustain this industry and use it as a tool to achieve its 2020 vision (Jetlife, 2012).

Transport is what gives life to development (Atubi, 2006). In the past few decades, Cameroon cities have been experiencing huge population increases.

This is mainly due to the fastest urbanization and rural exodus (International Association of Public Transport and African Association of Public Transport 2010). Such fast-growing cities face enormous challenges in terms of infrastructure provision and the need to cope with the increasing demand for transport.

1.2 Statement of the Research Problem

The investments of developed countries in transport infrastructure of travelling agencies have increased the wealth and power of most nations.

The movement to develop agencies’ infrastructures started long ago and continued with the development of economic activities.

Vatican Express Travelling Agency has limitations ranging from employment of incompetent drivers, continued usage of worn-out vehicles with worn out parts and poor services when it comes to the treatment of passengers, the problem of setting, the type of infrastructure put in place that does not befit, the heterogeneous nature of activities found the problem faced by actors of economic activities in the Vatican Express Travelling Agency continues to be a problem.

More importantly, certain preconditions including substantial advancements in human capital must be present for an agency to effectively generate or recoup sustainable economic benefits from investments in transport infrastructure.

The sudden increase of economic activities and the heterogeneous nature of the activities have placed this agency point of economic activities to the vantage.

These activities are practiced by the various actors’ notably loaders, wholesalers, retailers, marketers, truck pushers, in a small space prior to the ever-increasing activities.

Due to the above-mentioned problems, this research work is out to probe into the effects of proliferation of economic activities in Vatican Express Travelling Agency by different actors.

1.3 Research Questions

1.3.1 Main Research Question

How do economic activities in Vatican Express Travelling Agency contribute to the livelihood of the actors?

1.3.2 Specific Research questions

1. What are the types of economic activities in Vatican Express Travelling Agency.?
2. Who are the actors of economic activities in the Vatican Express Travelling Agency?
3. What are the associated problems from these economic activities in Vatican Express Travelling Agency?

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