Marketing Destination Information in a Tourism Driven Economy: The Cross River State Example

Abstract

This paper studies the destination information marketing as an aid to the Cross River Tourism bid. A questionnaire was designed to elicit responses from the stakeholders in the tourism industry. Out of 69 questionnaire copies administered on tourist and workers in three popular hotels in Calabar (University of Calabar Hotel, Marian hotel and the Transcorp, Calabar) 50 unusable copies were retrieved and used in the analyses. The findings showed a predominance of domestic tourists in Cross River State. The sites/events most frequently visited included Christmas Festival, Obudu Mountain Race, Tinapa Holiday/Business Resort, Obudu Mountain Resort, Marina Resort (Water Front) and Leboku New Yam Festival. The single bedroom accommodation and double rooms are the most preferred accommodations. The most preferred tourist means of transportation included public mass transit, chartered taxis and car hire services. The most popular sources of tourism information in Cross River State were tourist guide books, internet and the Tourism Bureau. The most preferred souvenirs on Cross River State included indigenous art works and utilities. The most frequent complaint of tourists was the bad state of the roads. The most frequent complementary remarks were: “the state is very clean and beautiful”, “the people are very friendly”; “the state is very, very peaceful”. Suggestions were given for improvement.

Keywords: Marketing, Destination Information, Tourism Driven Economy, Cross River State