The Calabar Festival is the
climax of a painstaking annual tour events Calendar put together by the Cross
River State Government. Spanning a whooping 32-day period, the Festival is
perhaps the longest Festival observed in Nigeria today. Strategically, located
in the festive month of December every year, it naturally attracts hordes of
vacationists who are wont to have their annual holidays in December, from all
over the world to not only the Ancient City of Calabar but the entire Cross
River State which boasts of an array of tourists sites strewn across its
expansive landscape. Through careful repackaging and rebranding, the Calabar
Carnival has been yearly improved and expanded, the components of the Festival
presenting a variety of entertainment for all classes of people. Though some
see the Festival as a jamboree, the spin-off economic opportunities for
tourists and residents to explore are simply enormous. For one, spaces at the
Festival Village at the Cultural Centre Grounds don’t seem to be enough as more
food and drink vendors strive to have spaces. Major hotels in Calabar and
environs get fully booked by November and the streets of Calabar experience
increased vehicular and human traffic within the period. If there was a
mechanism for tracking the inflow of money to food and drink vendors,
transporters, hoteliers, tourists themselves, residents, etc, it would have
been easy to determine that the Carnival is worth the while for all concerned
(tourists, residents, businesses and the government). The Calabar Carnival is
the blissful union of business and pleasure occurring simultaneously. The fact
is this Calabar Carnival is the place to be in the December season.
Would you like your visit
to Calabar Carnival 2013 fully facilitated for you? Call Billy (07031158968),
Agbo (08133596359)
