Tourism education is a unique tool in the economic development of Cross River State. The State is endowed with natural resources such as mountains, rivers, beaches, waterfall, national park etc. Tourism today is seen as one of the ventures that improves the living standard of people. It is very vital in the economic development of any nation, especially the developing nations. Tourism could be used to boost the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). For tourism to improve the economic status of the people, both the participants and the host communities need to be educated. This education could be formal, informal, or non-formal through seminars, workshops, excursion programmes, field trips and visitations. This paper, therefore, examines the role of tourism education in the economic development of Cross River State. The paper looks at the key concepts viz; tourism education and economic development. It further x-rays the goals and objectives of tourism education, types of tourism education in Cross River State. Finally, a conclusion was drawn and it was recommended among others that the government should restore most of the tourist sites, parks and other entertaining site attractions, to keep the tourism tempo high. The government should collaborate with private sectors in maintaining tourism sites in the state and the state environment should be conducive enough for tourism industry to thrive.