THE attendants at the restaurant of the Tinapa Lakeside Hotel were finding it difficult coping with tens of people that kept on trooping to the dinner table to have their breakfast. It was going to be a long, hectic day. The Paradise City would be shut down. It was the carnival day, December 27.
It was encouraging on a closer look at the profiles of the hotel guests. They were individuals, couples and families that could have decided to travel to the United Kingdom, Dubai, South Africa or Ghana for their Christmas holiday. The fact that these families would prefer to come and have fun and relax during the yuletide in Calabar shows the progress Cross River State has made in building the state into a destination. To achieve this, it has taken 10 years of annually throwing a showpiece, the Carnival Calabar, to entertain the world.
The 2014 edition of the Carnival Calabar is the tenth. The carnival was begun in 2014 by the former governor of Cross State, Mr. Donald Duke. Having identified tourism an area that the state had a comparative advantage, it was important to create a product that would attract tourists to the state to be entertained and experience the hospitality of the people of the state. The Duke administration held the first two editions of the festival, but it was the period of nurturing and trying to build the carnival into an acceptable product.
The transformation of the Carnival Calabar in a spectacle that many Nigerian families look forward to was done by the current administration led by Governor Liyel Imoke. The current government in the state has, in the last eight years, nurtured the festival to a tourism product. The socio-economic effect is very apparent in Calabar. Calabar still retains its lay-back mien. The low crime rate and the atmosphere leisure and relaxation with little or no care in the world are still there.
Calabar, as Nigeria’s prime destination, has seen a steady rise in the bed spaces available in the city. Restaurant and fast food business in the town have also grown. In no place is this clearer than in the old Marian Street now Ndidem Usang Isang Street. The street has been taken over by restaurants, fast food outlets and other leisure activities. The reason for this is not far-fetched. It is the longest stretch in the 10-kilometre carnival route and most visitors troop to the street to watch the carnival.
Cross River State, in the last ten years of the carnival, managed to build a tourism brand that many have come to accept. The state, knowing the enormity of the responsibility that comes with bringing visitors to a destination, managed also to keep all the other ancillary activities like the security and environmental sanitation tick and maintained general law and order . However, kudos must be given to the people of Cross River State, most especially the Calabar people for their hospitality. The environment is welcoming, so also are the people. This makes for a quality destination which the state has become.
Although so far so good, certain indicators at the 2014 carnival show that after ten years, the carnival needs to be re-scrutinised. The high level of creativity and aesthetics that go into the costuming need to come. It went down a notch. There were some grey areas at the final presentation at the stadium that the organizers need to re-visit and correct.
One area that has also kept people in suspense and helped festival to continue to grow is the band’s story line for. The Masta Blasta, the winners of the last three edition, has been winning due the strong plot and ability to deliver captivating story lines. This added to their beautiful costuming.
The chairman of the Carnival Committee, Mr. Gab Onah, has been around from the beginning in 2005 and looked back at how far the festival has fared after a decade: “It has been a humbling experience from when we mounted the high points of Cross River State on floats and drove through the city streets of Calabar, till when we decided in the year 2005. Through our three weeks’ training, our band managers are able to make costumes locally; through regular dry runs, our revelers are able to perfect their road match; through the formal unveiling of themes, our revelers and our band leaders are able to conceive themes and identify philosophies to play to and therefore give the carnival itself story lines and life. The desire has been that the carnival should have a life of its own, and that is where we are; and that the carnival should be the people’s carnival; and that the future should be with or without government, the carnival should go on.”
He believed the festival has seen the high and low but that each experience has been a learning process: “In the last ten years, for our highs, we got sponsorship and created awareness. The likes of Guinness, Ecobank, First Bank and the others, came in to appreciate the huge opportunity that they had in marrying with this great brand. So, it created opportunity for these brands to identify and merge. What we are praying is that in the long term, the government should only be in position to provide the enabling environment while the private sector runs with it. The bottom line is that if we get it right, as we seem to be doing, this should be a source for survival for our boys and girls who participate in the carnival route match.”
One of biggest advantages of tourism as an industry is its ability to impact directly on host community. Individuals within the community are direct beneficiary of tourists coming to a host community. It is every evident in Cross River. Food vending business has blossomed for many. The craft artisans have also received a lot of patronage from tourist visitors.
Mr. Onah captured it succinctly: “Our culture is our best foot forward in our tourism initiative. Our culture is the palm oil with which our tourism eaten. The carnival itself is a means to an end. We are using it as a pull factor to attract tourists who will come and savour culture and thereafter want to visit the attractions. As you are aware, out attractions are enjoying an over-supply. The destinations that they have become from their site status. So, there is not carnival as a pull factor, Calabar being at the end of the road, would have remained a dead end, the carnival gives the reason people to come here, that has been achieved.
Socio-economic impact is obvious: Photographers everywhere, pure water sellers, vending opportunity on a 10-kilometre route. You can see that the crowd this year overwhelms that of last year. But until we make it a people’s carnival, we are not there. “
In the last 10 years of the Carnival Calabar, different areas of tourism have been dived into by many who see the opportunity. In line, with most destinations all over the world, the state this year was the introduction of open double decker bus for tours. This was done by Nova Rosta Bus Tours.
The head of the company, Miss Geraldine Itoe, spoke about the company and what they are trying to do in Calabar: “Nova Rosta is into events and sightseeing. We will be carrying the governor for today, around the carnival route . It is open to the public on normal days. We have two basic routes, the Tinapa Route and the City Tour Route. We have only one bus for now; we will certainly add some more in the near future.”
