Examining the Role Played by Museums in the Development of Cultural Tourism in Cameroon - A Case Study of the Babungo Meseum of the North West Region

Cultural tourism being a subset of tourism is more concerned with a traveller’s engagement in a country or regions, particularly the lifestyle of the people in those geographical areas, their history, art, architecture, religion(s), and other elements that can helped shape their way of life. Recording day after day life within a culture is one of the most significant pieces of preserving it and looking at the rate at which cultures are fading, the careful safeguarding of daily life is the only hope a heritage group has for recovering its culture. Therefore it should be noted that every day life encompasses rituals, religion, foods, art and any other facets that make a culture unique and in spite of of what type of museum it is and the likelihood are it has some cultural artifacts, art, music, or technology displayed. Museums are known to play a crucial role in the preservation of local culture and with cautious certification and artifact preservation, a culture can be recorded and remembered regardless of its future and not leaving out the fact that it can also be shared and understood by those from different cultural backgrounds. Babungo is having a high reputation when it comes to craft work because of these craft works of their former kings and as such they possess one of the numerous well kept artefacts in Cameroon. Like other museum around the world, the Babungo museum presents a sample of main and important objects from the rich cultural and artistic heritage of Babungo, and coupled with the rich treasure of the talented sculptor and especially the kings and for this reason these pieces has still remain the most impressive of the grassland area.

Keywords: Museum, cultural tourism, tourism development.