Carnival’s untapped potential

There are just under 100 days to go before the 2025 edition of the colourful spectacle of T&T Carnival fills streets and competition venues across the country. The countdown to the two-day main event began with last Saturday’s official launch at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, at which National Carnival Commission (NCC) chairman Winston “Gypsy” Peters proclaimed that this year’s event had generated US$93 million.

That was a welcome piece of information amid ongoing concerns about foreign exchange. It was also a reminder that T&T Carnival is much more than a cultural extravaganza—it is a serious industry that can develop into a significant economic powerhouse.

A large portion of the foreign exchange earned during Carnival comes from money spent by visitors during the festival and, according to Peters, there has been an upward trend in visitorship, with tens of thousands of nationals and non-nationals coming into the country.

The trend has seen more than 33,000 visitors coming here annually for Carnival between 2010 and 2020, and, following a sharp drop due to COVID-19 restrictions, the number recovered to 27,000 last year. Those visitors brought in US$62 million during the 2023 Carnival season.

However, while the number of visitors seems to be heading in a positive direction, Carnival’s full potential as a contributor to T&T’s economic prosperity is yet to be realised. For all the time, energy and investment that goes into the annual festival, it is not yet a revenue generator on the scale that the country needs.

The potential of T&T Carnival will be seen in the coming months in all the activities and events leading up to the spectacle of culture, creativity and spirit on March 3 and 4, 2025.

Oil and gas revenues have been steadily declining for years. Uncertainty over the Dragon gas deal with Venezuela further complicates the situation with this country’s struggling energy industry, so more effort needs to be put into the development of other sectors that can contribute to economic revival.

The Carnival industry, the most vibrant sub-sector of T&T tourism, should be much more of a development priority. It is already a thriving ecosystem with the potential for much more growth.

It is estimated that over ten per cent of the population is directly involved in the Carnival industry—designing and making costumes, providing musical and other forms of entertainment, producing events and providing other types of goods and services. Indirectly, the industry creates thousands of jobs in a host of ancillary industries, including hospitality, accommodation, transportation and advertising.

The Carnival season brings more visitors to the country than at any other time of the year, consistently accounting for more than 12 per cent of total annual arrivals. February, which is usually when the festival reaches its climax, is the month with the highest number of hotel, private and guesthouse visits.

While Carnival’s untapped revenue-generating potential has been talked about for years and always comes up during discussions about economic diversification, there has not been enough effort to harness the festival’s untapped potential. Efforts in that direction need to be amplified so that, in addition to its success as a cultural event that projects this country’s creativity to the world, Carnival becomes a major driver of the T&T economy.

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