Carnival in Jamaica expected to earn up to $5 billion this year

 

The Ministry of Tourism says Jamaica is set to realise one of its highest carnival revenue hauls on record.

 

Senior Strategist in the ministry, Delano Seiveright, says the estimates show increased interest in Carnival in Jamaica, compared to previous years. 

 

In 2019, the industry raked in about J$4.6 billion. 

 

With a higher spend expected this year, Mr. Seiveright said revenues could reach as much as $5 billion.   

 

"The flow through effect in the economy is significant, especially for the micro and small tourism enterprises and also micro and small enterprises all together, because every taxi man, every vendor, every jerk chicken man, they're making their money too," he noted. 

 

With 9,000 carnival revellers and 50,000 participants expected this year, he said the visitor numbers are also expected to be close to a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels.

 

Dania Beckford, one of the directors of YardMAS Carnival, said carnival exeution in Jamaican is a multi-million US dollar investment. 

 

"It's a huge investment because a lot of persons, when they think about carnival, they will say, oh the costume is so expensive. You're not just paying for a costume, you're paying for whole experience. It's the trucks on the road. It's the food on the road all day. It's all the beverages that you have on the road all day. It's the build out of the space. It's how many jobs we provide for people. So it's well over [US]$100 million. That's why no one business can do it by themselves," she asserted. 

 

Some carnival packages could run patrons in excess of US$1,000.