The organiser of Akwaaba African Travel Market, Ikechi Uko, has described Carnival Calabar as one of Africa’s most powerful contemporary tourism brands, praising the Cross River State Government for intentionally building a globally recognised cultural and tourism product over the past two decades.
Uko spoke in Lagos at the Eko Hotel and Suites ahead of the unveiling of the 2026 Carnival Calabar theme, “Rethinking Our Collective Destiny,” by the Governor of Cross River State, Senator Bassey Otu.
Speaking before tourism stakeholders, travel operators, cultural promoters, and members of the media, Uko said Cross River State laid the foundation for what is now popularly known as “Detty December” in Nigeria through the deliberate creation and sustained development of Carnival Calabar.
According to him, while Lagos and other cities accidentally evolved into December tourism hotspots, Cross River State intentionally developed a structured tourism season around Carnival Calabar.
“I have been around quite a lot of places and I have seen how tourism is done. What has happened in Nigeria in the past 24 months is that suddenly there is this rave about Detty December. Without planning it, we now have a tourism season that occurred by happenstance for Lagos and other places. But Cross River State has been intentional from the beginning. They gave birth to Detty December,” he said.
Uko noted that images and visuals from Carnival Calabar have consistently dominated global media coverage associated with Nigeria’s festive tourism season.
“If you notice in the last two years, every picture of Detty December in global media like Guardian, BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera uses visuals from Carnival Calabar. It is not by accident,” he stated.
He recalled that efforts by the Federal Ministry of Tourism in 2004 to establish a Harmattan tourism season gained momentum when Cross River State launched Carnival Calabar, creating what he described as a globally competitive tourism product for Nigeria and Africa.
The tourism promoter also observed that Nigeria now unofficially enjoys two major tourism seasons — the December festivities and the Salah cultural festival period — driven by events such as the Ilorin Durbar and Ojude Oba Festival.
“In the last four days, social media has been taken over by the Durbar, Ojude Oba and all the festivals happening around the Salah celebrations. So we now have a December season and a Salah season,” he said.
He commended the large turnout of stakeholders from across the tourism value chain at the Lagos event, including representatives of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), the Nigerian Association of Tour Operators (NATOP), the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), and tourism media organisations.
Uko urged travel operators and tourism promoters to leverage Carnival Calabar as a marketable global tourism product by developing tour packages targeted at international visitors.
“The story is always that there is nothing to see in Nigeria. I do not think anybody who has seen the performances of the Carnival Girls and other cultural displays would still say there is nothing to see in Nigeria,” he said.
According to him, the Cross River State Government’s decision to engage tourism stakeholders ahead of the carnival demonstrates its commitment to positioning the event beyond entertainment into a commercially viable tourism product.
“They do not want to produce Carnival without selling it as a tourism product. They have created a pavilion for you. They have created a product for you. The governor has told you that this is the safest state in Nigeria,” he added.
Uko further stated that having attended several major carnivals around the world, he could confidently say Carnival Calabar ranks among the best contemporary carnivals globally.
“Cross River State went out to build institutions, choreography and infrastructure that have delivered one of the most powerful products Nigeria has to sell to the world,” he said.
He expressed optimism that with stronger collaboration among tour operators and travel agencies, tourist arrivals for the 2026 edition of the carnival could double by December.
“And to the good people of Cross River State, I say thank you for what you have done for Africa and Nigeria by sustaining this event for over 20 years. You have given Africa the biggest contemporary event that can compare with any anywhere in the world,” Uko said.
