- Spices up calender with ‘Kulturama Cooking Festival’
BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR – The Cross River State Tourism Bureau (CRSTB) is breaking new grounds with the addition of a cooking competition, christened ‘Kulturama Festival’, to further boost the state’s tourism and economic potential.
By expanding its already loaded annual calendar, the Bureau explained that the ‘Kulturama Festival’ is being packaged as a 4-day event to spice up the Valentine’s season from February 13th to 16th, 2025.
Managing Director of the State Tourism Bureau, Chief Ekpenyong Ojoi, explained that the Festival will be an annual event that focuses on special areas of interest such as music, comedy, food, culture, bikers’ parade, and love.
He told journalists in Calabar that arrangements have already kick-started towards hosting a hitch-free and successful Festival, stressing that the government plans to further promote Cross River as Nigeria’s tourism hub with the ‘Kulturama Cooking Competition’, which will feature a bikers parade, talents’ hunt, and cultural displays, as well as an exhibition of various Cross River State cuisines.
According to him, the event is meant to provide a new angle of interest to the already established tourism brand that Cross River State is noted for, adding that the festival would provide the opportunity for participating Chefs to display their talents and knowledge about preparing the unique local delicacies of the state through a sample collection of different food items that would be arranged in various food baskets.
Additionally, the State Tourism boss said the State government is maintaining focus on stimulating investment activities in the tourism sub-sector, disclosing that the Marina Resort tourism facility is now viable and open to investors, with its capacity of generating about eight billion (8bn) Naira for the State government coffers annually
Ojoi said; “Marina Resort has attracted N8 billion Naira to Cross River State through the Private sector. It has brought the safest, most affordable, and safe transport means to and fro Calabar to Uyo, worth over two billion Naira.
“We are set to commission an all-inclusive entertainment centre inside the Marina by this December. What we are doing with ‘Kulturama’ is adding to what we already have to bring people back to Cross River State.”
In his remarks, the Festival director, Harmony Odwong, said the ‘Kulturama Festival’ is meant to keep the tourism sector afloat after the Calabar International Carnival coming up in December.
Odwong also highlighted safety measures being put in place to guarantee effective policing of the event venue, including partnering with relevant agencies to provide adequate security cover throughout the festival period.
The organizers announced that to enhance the culture and talent-rich festival, various exciting prizes will be awarded to winners in the cooking and other competitions that are already scheduled.
