A Methodological Framework for Assessing Cultural Identity Potential in Sustainable Cultural Tourism: The Case of Cross River State, Nigeria

Tourism destinations are constantly invoking culture into the sustainability agenda, yet existing tourism sustainability indicator frameworks overemphasize environmental and economic metrics, and cultural identity is often marginalized or addressed through fragmented heritage measures, thereby restricting tourism destinations from effectively evaluating their potential to sustain and reinforce identity within the context of sustainable cultural tourism. In this view, cultural identity potential (CIP), defined as a destination’s capacity to sustain and transmit cultural identity in cultural tourism, remains under-operationalized in existing destination assessments. To address this gap, this study develops a comprehensive indicator-based framework to assess the cultural identity potential in sustainable cultural tourism. A two-phase design method was adopted: (1) a multi-step process to scope sustainable cultural tourism dimensions and operationalize CIP into criteria and indicators; and (2) a modified Delphi technique to refine and validate key criteria and indicators. A regional panel of 25 academic and non-academic experts participated in round 1, while 18 participated in round 2. The finalized framework comprises 39 criteria and 110 indicators (79% of the initial 139 items) across the destination management, economic, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions. Consensus increased across rounds, demonstrating convergence, with stability testing demonstrating that 91.2% of the re-rated indicators did not change significantly (p ≥ 0.05), supporting consistency of retained items. Overall, the CIP framework provides a policy-ready tool for evaluating and monitoring cultural identity potential in Cross River State and similar regions, serving as a reference for practitioners in sustainable cultural tourism development.