22 hours ago
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Senior Reporter
Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo says he cannot yet estimate the economic impact of Carnival 2026 but maintains that this year’s celebrations already represent an improvement on 2025, citing expanded community events and increased activity at key venues.
Speaking to Guardian Media at Carnival City in Fyzabad yesterday, Tancoo said that while financial figures were not yet available, the Government’s approach to Carnival focused on strengthening culture and participation rather than measuring success solely in revenue terms.
He said the impact of Carnival could not be captured only through economic indicators, as the festival reflected every aspect of Trinidad and Tobago life and brought together corporate interests, communities and citizens into a single national product.
“Carnival is culture, it is the lifeblood of Trinidad and Tobago, and you cannot put a price on that. We cannot reduce it to investment cost and return and think that is how it works.
“So while I don’t have a figure as to what kind of revenue it is bringing in, I am sure that, however you consider it, it is not just about dollars and cents. It is our culture and the expression of culture. It is about jobs that have been created—not only through the energy sector, but through this sector as well,” Tancoo said.
He described Carnival, outside of sport, as the largest event uniting the country and referred to it as a demonstration of “public-private partnership at its best”.
Although he did not provide projections for Carnival 2026, available data from previous years indicate substantial visitor spending linked to the festival. Tourists spent an estimated US$94.2 million during the 2024 Carnival period, with 29,651 non-national visitors arriving by air compared with 27,375 in 2023. In addition, 11,793 nationals living abroad entered the country between January 26 and February 13 that year.
The former Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts also reported that Carnival 2025 generated approximately US$95 million in visitor spending across accommodation, food, entertainment, transport and related services.
Tancoo said the current Government had continued to invest in Carnival and would maintain that commitment, although he did not specify figures or the level of increase. He said the scale of cultural production was evident in the development of major Carnival spaces.
“If you look at what has been created in the Queen’s Park Savannah, you start to get an idea of how much culture can grow,” he said.
Tancoo said that in nine months the Government had transformed the Savannah into what he described as the world’s Carnival capital, extending activities over a longer period and concentrating events in a central location.
He highlighted the range of offerings at the venue, including Flava Village, where patrons can access local cuisine, and the nearby Carnival Village, which hosts continuous entertainment.
“You can go to the Flava Village and patronise Trini food, and across the stage there is continuous entertainment. Then you can go to the Carnival Village right next door. We have brought Carnival there over a longer period in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.
Tancoo said the expansion of Carnival activity was not limited to Port-of-Spain. He noted that Carnival City had also been established in Fyzabad and that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had introduced a similar facility in her Siparia constituency.
Both locations, he said, were well patronised and reflected efforts to bring Carnival closer to communities while presenting it to an international audience as part of the national product.
He said the wider spread of events demonstrated that Carnival was no longer confined to a single geographic space but was being used as a tool for community engagement and cultural expression.
“I think this year’s Carnival has been an improvement over last year’s Carnival. You have already started seeing that at the Queen’s Park Savannah,” Tancoo said.
He added that attendance at the Savannah was expected to increase further in the coming days, predicting that crowds would grow as Carnival approached its climax.
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