Nigeria’s Detty December has become a powerful driver of tourism, culture and revenue, but stakeholders say its continued success will depend on how quickly the country addresses deepening supply, pricing and staffing gaps ahead of the 2026 season.
These recommendations were given at the recent Naija7Wonders Zoom Conference 3.0, hosted by Ikechi Uko, convener of Akwaaba African Travel Market.
At the conference, tourism and hospitality operators reviewed the realities behind the festive surge and the risks of relying on last-minute solutions.
While December is often viewed as a period of easy profits, operators at the forum argued that the season exposes structural weaknesses that limit the wider tourism economy and force difficult decisions that are often misunderstood by the public.
The Founder of Lion Hospitality Partner and Group Chief Executive Officer of Wakanow, Bayo Adedeji, said festive price increases must be understood within the context of supply constraints and year-round business realities.
“As a businessman, I will be honest with you. If demand exceeds supply, we would have to raise prices. That is the reality.
“You cannot judge a business only by what happens in December without understanding the losses we absorb during the rest of the year when facilities are half empty,” he said.
According to Adedeji, many hospitality businesses rely on December earnings to survive the months that follow, a reality that becomes clearer in January when patronage drops sharply.
“In January, paying salaries was tough. We paid because we are a responsible business but we had to rely on what we made in December to survive January,” he said.
He added that layoffs eventually became unavoidable once demand disappeared.
He noted that the scale of the festive pressure, goes far beyond hotel rooms and event tickets.
Citing examples across his hospitality outlets, including Wave Beach, and Athena Beach, he said food supply was pushed to extremes.
“My suya man used to do about 30 rams a week. In December, we were killing about 200 rams every week.
“It got to a point where the suppliers came to check on us because of the volume.
“They thought we were doing some kind of sacrifice.
“That was how intense the demand was,” he said.
Adedeji explained that operators were sometimes forced to raise prices not to increase margins but to manage scarcity.
“We had to raise prices to draw back the demand or we would keep running out completely.
“The laws of demand and supply are real,” he said.
According to Adedeji, supply gaps extended even to basic items, with his outlets selling about 100,000 bottles of water during December, yet still experienced shortages.
Underscoring the need to start planning as early as October, he said, “There were days we were telling customers we had no water because the supplier just couldn’t keep up.”
Staffing shortages also emerged as a limiting factor, with operators struggling to find workers during peak demand.
“We could not find enough people to work. People continue to complain there are no jobs, and yet we can’t find enough people to do the work,” he said.
From the tour operations sector, Founder of Mardis Travels and Tours, Cordis Umeokoli, said Detty December’s growing international appeal was clear from her company’s experience hosting 30 students from Stanford University during the 2025 season.
Umeokoli said the group toured Olumo Rock, beaches, arts markets and cultural spaces in Lagos and Abeokuta, blending heritage with nightlife.
She, however, said the experience also exposed preparedness gaps, particularly in accommodation.
“Some of the hotels we used were not fully prepared because they were undergoing renovations.
“Such projects should be completed well ahead of December, given how critical that period has become for tourism,” she said.
She also raised concerns about unannounced hotel price increases, warning that inconsistent pricing could discourage repeat visits and complicate tour planning.
Umeokoli called for better monitoring and clearer standards during peak seasons.
While private operators grapple with capacity limits, Cross River is turning to data-driven planning to manage its own Detty December traffic through Carnival Calabar.
The Cross River State Tourism Bureau (CRSTB) trained enumerators to capture visitor numbers, spending patterns and economic impact following record performances in 2024.
According to CRSTB, an estimated 150,000 visitors entered Calabar in December 2024, spending about N8.875 billion on transportation, while hotel occupancy rose to 68 per cent, with more than 90 per cent of hotels fully booked between Dec. 15 and Dec. 29.
Managing Director of CRSTB, Mr Ekpenyong Ojoi, said the state had expanded hotel capacity, strengthened air connectivity through CallyAir and invested in infrastructure, security and urban renewal to support the 2025 and future seasons.
Participants at Naija7Wonders 3.0 agreed that these efforts point to a broader lesson: Detty December can no longer be treated as a short-term rush.
They said that without early investment in aviation, accommodation, food logistics, staffing and pricing frameworks, the same challenges will repeat each year.
As Nigeria positions Detty December as a global festive attraction, stakeholders said the focus must now shift from celebrating demand to preparing for it.
They warn that unless lessons from recent seasons are acted upon, the very growth driving tourism could continue to limit its full potential by 2026. (NAN)
