As soca lovers get ready to flock the streets of Kingston on Sunday for the highly-anticipated 2025 Carnival Road March, key stakeholders believe that, with Jamaica continuously serving up a one-of-a-kind entertainment package, the country is poised to offer the best Carnival experience across the region.
Speaking at a recent media briefing detailing Carnival’s economic contribution, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett shared that when he and his team birthed the Carnival in Jamaica experience in 2017, the goal was for the country to be the region’s #1 stop for Carnival.
“I never start anything with any other intention but to be #1,” he said. “We operate in tourism with KPIs (key performance indicators) and we set them and then work towards achieving them. To make Jamaica the #1 destination for entertainment, we set that target. We want to make Carnival in Jamaica the #1 experience.”
Outlining that Jamaica has a high number of repeat revellers, Minister Bartlett shared that the island’s entertainment product is so strong that visitors make it their duty to return.
“When Jamaica takes anything, we take it to another level and make it better. Carnival has proven to be a powerful magnet of visitors to our shores. In 2024 we welcomed 5,400 international visitors who came specifically for Carnival. These visitors spent an average of US$3,209 per person, injecting some $12.5 million directly into our economy,” he shared. “What’s particularly encouraging here is that 54.5 per cent of our international Carnival patrons in 2024 were first-time attendees, so we’re seeing that roughly 45 per cent are repeat and that is in line with the repeat business that we have for tourism in Jamaica. That is a powerful figure.”
Agreeing with the minister, Kibwe McGann, sponsorship director, GenXS Carnival, shared that Jamaica’s infrastructure makes it a great destination with immense Carnival potential.
“Just to understand and give everyone context, when you speak about the other carnivals in the space, you’re talking about islands that are smaller than ours, and logistically they are not positioned where our country is. When you speak about 5,400 people coming to Jamaica for Carnival, yet you have another island within the space that is attracting almost 40,000 people then you understand the potential,” he shared. “Yet, even with their numbers, they don’t have the hotels, they don’t have the infrastructure to back it up, the transport to back it up… Jamaica is uniquely positioned to the largest territory of Carnival masqueraders and its gonna take private sector, corporate Jamaica, the ministry to give us that support moving forward to make Jamaica the best.”
“I have travelled to at least 25 carnival territories within the space and I understand the uniqueness of the Jamaican product. When people come to Jamaica they have a high intent of returning, and that’s not so for the other territories,” McGann continued. “For them it’s one and move. It’s not so for Jamaica. What the minister shared about our food, our music, and love, that connection resonates on a deeper level. We have something special and we need to continue to invest in this product.”
Carnival in Jamaica, having successfully recovered from the economic impact of Covid-19 is poised to hit its highest numbers yet. According to stakeholders, the industry rebounded last year to give a direct economic impact of $4.42 billion. That figure represents a 44.2 per cent increase since 2019. Carnival’s total economic impact in 2024 was reported at a whopping $95.4 billion.