SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT

ANALYSIS

CALABAR CARNIVAL 2007

REPORT PRESENTED BY
BASSEY B. ESU (Ph.D)
(CO-ORDINATOR)
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM INITIATIVE
(SUTI), CALABAR, NIGERIA.
email: sutinigeria@yahoo.com
 INTRODUCTION

Tourism has become an important economic

development tool for both developed and
developing countries. There is agreement
among experts that the travel and tourism
sector is the fastest growing of global economy.
It is reported that expenditure for international
travel tripled between 1987 and 1997 to US$94
billion a year (WTO, 2000, WTO, 2003). It is
expected that the world tourism industry would
contribute to world’s GDP in 2014 by 10.9%
(WTTC, 2005). In sub-Sahara Africa, it is
expected that tourism and travel will generate
US$75 billion in 2015. It is estimated that
Nigeria will have tourism demand growth of
3.30 million, 7.70% world markets share and
6.40% contribution to employment in the
• One important component of the state tourism
product mix is the Calabar Carnival Festival. It
is one event that has the potentials of
contributing to the socio-economic
development of the state. Reports from some
world events show empirical evidence of
contributing positively to the development of
the locality or region. Economic impacts
studies of events in Kwa Zulu Natal show that
the events contributed to some extent to the
development of the region: Comrade 2005,
Comrade 2006, Thukela and Islandlawana
2006 (Seymour, 2005; Seymour and
Dladla,2006, kohler and Seymour).
• Event tourism represents a specific type of
tourism and has been defined as “the systemic
planning, development and marketing of
festivals (and special events) as tourist
attractions, development catalysts, and image
• The UK Sport publications (2005), defines economic
impacts of event “as the total amount of additional
expenditure generated within a city that can be
directly or indirectly attributed to the staging of a
major sporting, cultural or religious event.” Economic
impact studies focuses on the changes that take place
in sale, income, jobs or other parameters generated by
the event (Lindberg, 1996). The aim of every economic
impacts study is to assess the net effect of staging the
event in the area.
Significance of study
The research will benefit the destination in the following
ways :
• Enhance the State’s competitive position within the
country and put the city of Calabar on the global
tourism map.
• Generate a good image for the State as a tourist
destination.
• Truly bring Calabar to limelight, showcase its brand
 Research Objectives: The objectives of this
research are to:
• Identify the demographic and socio-economic
profiles of the Calabar Carnival Festival visitors.
This information will help identify who the event
consumers are and to determine any
differences in their interests and event
motivations. The central focus is to determine
the target market that the event attracts in
order to enhance visitor’s experiences.
• Examine the spending pattern of the visitors on
the day of the carnival and also get an overview
of the accommodation pattern during their stay
in the state.
• Determine visitor’s knowledge, awareness and
perception regarding the carnival.
• Ascertain the socio-economic impact of the
carnival and tourism benefits of the event in
positioning the region.
 Research Questions: The key aim of
the research is to assess the socio-
economic impact of the Christmas festival
to the city. The following research
questions guide the case study:
• What is the demographic profile of the
visitors at the carnival?
• What are the spending patterns of
spectators?
• What are the visitor’s perceptions and
level of awareness regarding the event?
• Does the carnival impact positively the
socio- economic development of the
• RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
• The study site: The carnival is a product mix of the
Cross River State Christmas Festival. Cross River State
is one of the 36 states of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. The state is located within the tropical rain
forest belt of Nigeria. It lies between attitude 40 28| and
60 55| North of Equator and longitude70 50| and 90 28|
East of the Greenwich Meridian. It is divided into 18
Local Government Areas. The state has a total
landmass of 22,342.18 km2, with a population of
2.888,966 (NPC, 2007). The people of the state are
known for their warm and hospitality. The culture of the
people is expressed in various languages, dances,
festivals and cuisines.
• Five bands were registered for participation in the
carnival. The bands include; (I) Bayside band, ii)
Freedom Band (iii) Master Blaster Band (iv) Passion 4
Band (v) Seagull Band. Each band has unique features
and concept. The membership of the Bands is open to
all Nigerians and Non-Nigerians alike. At the end of the
• The themes of the bands are shown below:
• Bayside Band:The Band’s theme is centered around
the origin of man, nature, values and attributes of the
culture and heritage of the people.
• Freedom Band: The Band’s theme is centered on
man’s freedom in all its fact. The Exodus of Israelites,
freedom from colonialism, freedom from slavery,
democratic freedom and the fundamental human rights
• Master Blaster Band: The Band’s theme is centred
around the promotion of man’s sociability irrespective
of race, religion and nationality.
• Passion 4 Band: The band centres it’s theme on
Genesis showing the beginning of things and creation
of man and his splendor. It decries the destructive
forces in nature as always over-riding the constructive
ones. The band advocates that man’s natural
environment be given adequate protection to save it
from total destruction.
• Seagull Band: The theme of the band is “proudly
• Target Population: The population
consist all spectators to the event who are 20
years and above and who were found at the
carnival route acting as consumers of the
event. The carnival route starts from the U.J
Esuene stadium, through Mary Slessor, Marian
Road, and Murtala Mohammed Highway and
back to the stadium. All those found watching
the carnival float along the route were
conceptualised as consumers of the event or
spectators. The spectators were divided into
three types; overnight spectators and resident
spectators and Day tripper spectators. The
target population therefore consists of
overnighters, day trippers and resident
spectators. Overnight spectators are those who
spent at least one night at the destination for
the purpose of this event. The day tripper
spectators are those who did not stay in the
destination for a night. The resident spectators
• Sample selection: The Convenience
sampling method was used. This method
of sampling enables the researcher to get
a gross estimate of the results without
incurring the cost or time required to
select a random sample. The research was
conducted using 500 spectators’ survey
questionnaires administered during face-
to-face interviews.
• Procedure in administrating
questionnaire: In all there were twenty
field staff; six investigators and fourteen
trained research assistants. The field staff
were given twenty five copies of the
questionnaire each. They were assigned to
designated points along the Carnival
route. The questionnaires were
administered by intercepting and
interviewing spectators at such points.
• Method of analysing data: The
data analyses involved the use of
Statistical Packages for Social
Sciences (SPSS) software where
statistical tests generated tables,
bars, charts, and cross tabulation.
The data was analysed into
conceptual categories based on the
constant comparative method.
RESULTS
Nature of spectators

Types of spectators

Over night
s pectators
46.60% 45.70% Day trippers

Res ident
7.70% s pectators
 Gender of spectators

27.30%
Male
Female
72.70%
 Nationality of spectators

14.90%

Nigerians
Foreigners

85.20%
 Continent of spectators
Other African
4.90% countries
North
12.90% Americans
33.90% Europe
6.50%
Oceanic

19.40% Asia
22.60%
Other
 Alone
Spectators' group membership
1.20%
Friends
4.10%
Family
11.30% 29.30%
Friends/family

33.70% Business
20.40% associates
Government
delegates
Spectators motivations

Primary reasons for visiting

Carnival
destination
8.60% Visit
5.10% family/friends
Vacation
5.10% 39.10%
Business
42.10%
Others
 Transportation to place where event is
5.30% taking place
Private car
1.70% Rented car
8.00% Air plane
9.90% Taxi
44%
Bus
7.40%
Bike
19.40% 4.30% Trek
Others
 0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
Word of 40.00%
mouth
Known
about
Newspaper/
magazine
Televisiona
dverts
Radio
Influenced to attend event

Internet

Others
Perception of event
Mean perception of event.
4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5
Mean

2.0
Well organised Inadequate parking Refreshment Infrastructure
Attracted tourist Faclitities Friendly locals Safety of spectator
 Overall spectator experience

18.70% Excellent

2.90% 38.40% Good

Satisfactory
15%
Poor
I don't know
25%
Spectators’ attitudes and
attachment to event

Attend event last year

4.00%

31.70% Yes
No
64.30% Don't know
 Attend event next year

15.30%

6.70% Yes
No
Don't know
78.00%
 Economic impact
Accommodation type used by
Hotel
overnight spectators
Motel
2.90%
2.20% B/B& quest
house
21.10% Home stead

57.10% Friends/family
11.30%
3.60%
1.90% Holiday home

Others
 Nights spent by overnight
spectators

60.00%
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%
1-4 Nights 5-8 Nights >9 Nights
 Spectators spending

Items Amount (N)

Accommodation N 1, 430,000

Food N 1,678,000

Entertainment N 1,174,039

Gifts N 1,182,032

Communication N 1,120,000

Othes ( retails shopping, N 534,000

gasoline,etc.)

Total N 7,118,975
• Spectators’ suggestions in %
• Restrictions of movement 9 Use tour guides 1
• Maintain 26th Dec date for event 2 Provision of casino 2
• Increase number of bands 1 Increase Cultural content 19
• Change carnival route 1 Create website for carnival l2
Provision of refreshment 1
• Reduce the registration fee of bands 1
• Early commencement of event 10
• Improve planning and coordination 34
• Civil servants should be paid December salary 3
• Increase awareness though media promotion 31
• The Government should act as a major stakeholder 14
• Provide adequate security 7
• Increase hospitality of the people 1
• Participation by other states and countries 18
• Private sector sponsorship 15
• Spectators viewing point and seat outs/facilities 48
 Summary and conclusion
• 1) The results of this study have demonstrated
that there is a large market for the Calabar
carnival. It has acted as a positive image
builder for the state.
• 2) The study also shows the diversities in the
event tourism market in terms of the
spectators’ demographic characteristics and
motivations. The spectators are enlightened,
educated, belong to an income group that can
be leveraged to maximize profit and market
share and attended event in the company of
family members and friends.
• 4) The study shows that spectators have
positive attitudes toward the event and most
will likely engage in repeat visit.
• 6) The direct spectators spending obtained
shows that there is a direct economic impact on
the economy.
• 7) The Calabar Carnival in view of its national
outlook has become an icon in the tourism map
of the state. This means it has the potentials to
capture more of the market share in event
tourism. The larger the market share, the
greater the economic impact resulting from
visitors spending.
• 8) Customers’ satisfaction was above average.
These are success drivers of the success of the
event. There is still room for improvement;
otherwise the customers could easily be swift
away by a better competing event or
destination in the region or country. The
destination and event organizers have the
Recommendations
In view of the above findings, the following
recommendations have been made. We hope
that, if these issues are addressed, the
Calabar Carnival will compete with other similar
events in the world. Secondly, it will sustain
ably achieve the objectives for its formation:
• 1) During carnival floats, not all the band
members should participate. Band membership
should be categorized, so that some can act as
fans. Only a representative group should
participate in the float. This will improve the
quality of each Band and reduce the time it
takes for each band to match past. Bands from
other states of the federation and beyond
should be registered for participation.
• 2) The local content of the bands is low.
The bands should portray concepts that
reflect the socio-cultural life of the people
of Cross River State. The use of pop
music should be discontinued. The bands
should compose music that supports their
concept. The music could be in English or
any of the dialects spoken in the state.
Imported idea or themes should be
avoided. The danger of importation on
those customers from these places where
the idea(s) is/are copied will feel nostalgic
and disappointed. Event tourists want
surprises that will delight them.
3) Although spectators attitudes was positive,
the level of satisfaction was just above
average , the destination organization
managers and the carnival commission
should intervene in the areas that acted as
dissatisfier to customers. These include:-
• i) The absence of seat outs for weary
spectators
• ii) Visual occlusion by crowd of spectators
who encroached into the pass way. These
offended many spectators and deprived
them of viewing the performance of some of
the bands.
• iii) There should be good traffic control
during the event. Private car owners should
be guided to where they can conveniently
park their cars, which should also be close to
• 4). Planning of event should commence on
time and should involve all shareholders.
Adequate publicity should be made about
the event on television, radio, national
newspaper and magazine. Programme for
the event or brochure containing carnival
information should be made available at
major entry points into the destination,
hotels, tourism information centres.
• 5) The lack of data on the scope and
extent of tourism economic impact can
affect the level of commitment of
policy-makers and stakeholders. This
study has only been able to estimate
the direct spending of a sample of
spectators. To estimate the actual
impact in terms of total spectators’
expenditure, and other economic flow–
ons such as employment, value added
and income, the following information
about the destination must be
provided:
• i) Visitor arrival: This would be done by
visitor tracking at the major entry
points into Calabar (tourism
barometer).
• ii) The collection of data and
computation of multipliers of the
different economic sectors in the state
or region.
• iii) The establishment of a State
Tourism Satellite Account to provide
the micro level data.
• iv) To increase spectators’ participation
in future economic impact study of the
Research team members
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Bassey Benjamin Esu (Ph.D),Lecturer,
Dept. of Marketing, University of Calabar.
)
Nigeria.(08034740556

CO-INVESTIGATORS
MRS Vivian Mbaze-Ebock Arrey ( Ph.D
Tourism Student, South Africa)
Mr. Michael Akpang ( B, A; PGDM)
Mr. Christopher Ebri ( Tourism
Journalist)
Mr. Martin Akeh ( Scientist, Ph.D
Student)
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION