The Catalytic Role of Hotel Industry in Sustainable Tourism Development in Calabar, Nigeria

Abstract: Today, the need for tourism development has  been advocated by the various stakeholders and scholars in this great industry. The driving mechanism towards this challenge is predicated upon the in availability of other sub-systems that will  pilot this laudable industry and make it more viable. This paper critically focus on the  hotel industry as a panacea for sustainable  tourism development in Calabar. A total of one hundred and twenty seven (127) hotels were assessed and the data were analyzed using the Pearson' Moment Correlation and the correlation coefficient of 0.89 and coefficient determination of 0.62 were obtained. This means that 62% of the variation in the growth of hotels is contributed to the increase in the number of tourist influx in Calabar. This result therefore, shows that the hospitality industry vis-à-vis the hotel industry is capable of shouldering the challenges and also boosting  the image of tourism in Cross River State in general and Calabar in particular. Therefore, if hotel industry and tourism must be sustained, a mechanism must be put in place that would ensure tourism  related  activities al l year round in Calabar.