Destination Development and
Institutionalization Strategies
In the OIC Member Countries
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The Calabar Carnival has been a significant focus of product development, with the State Government set
up a commission to ensure strong organization and promotion since 2003, only recently limiting its
involvement in the annual organization of the event.
The government also invested heavily in establishing new resorts in the early 2000s –most notably, Tinapa
Business and Leisure Resort, Obudu Mountain Resort and Marina Resort. The Tinapa resort was
particularly key development funded by the State – covering 40 acres of land, the resort included an
ecosystem of shopping establishments, bars and hotels, with the aim of attracting two thousand visitors
daily. 351
Cross River TourismBureau has also engaged in developing animal sanctuaries for orphaned Chimpanzees
in an attempt to create a new tourist attraction in the state. The funding for conservation is sourced from
the United Nations and the World Bank as the federal government has ceased funding to the Cross River
Bureau352.
However, despite product development efforts, the State has fallen short on developing the infrastructure
needed to attract tourists and encourage repeat visits. The lack of road or rail infrastructure has made
travel to Cross River State impractical, compounded by poor utility infrastructure. The government has
also been unable to sustain maintenance expenditures on the resorts developed.
Without the infrastructure, private sector operators have been reluctant to invest heavily until tourist
numbers increase substantially, despite incentives being made available to entrepreneurs to establish
tourism related businesses. 353
Managing Capacity
Given the growth phase that the state is going through, the emphasis is to attract substantial numbers of
tourists. However, to manage capacity, Cross River Tourism can leverage pricing and incentives to attract
tourists during low seasons.
c. The role of DMOs with regard to stakeholders
The Cross River Tourism Bureau relies primarily on meetings, with substantial room for more
continuous engagement and data collection and sharing.
The Cross River Tourism Bureau requires its stakeholders to form associations under each of their
specialized areas such as the Hotel Associations, travel agency associations, tourism investor
associations and tourism investors association to hold meetings and develop products on how best to
promote tourism within the state.
The Cross River Tourism Bureau engages with stakeholders directly as a regulator to promote tourism
development in the state. All key stakeholders actively participate in the famous Calabar festival and hold
annual meetings on how best to secure additional sponsorship revenue, attract more visitors and for any
infrastructural development before the start of the peak season for travel to the state which is usually
around November- December.
Each tourism operator is divided into an association with the heads of each association sitting on the
state level tourism committee to promote each association’s agenda in terms of tourism development in
the state.
351 Interview with President of Nigeria Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference
352 Interview with Cross River Tourism Bureau, November 2017
353 Interview with President of Nigeria Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference